(May 27, 2009) There is a fundamental dialogue between faith and reason, and an international
conference on Galileo can serve to prove it, according to the archbishop of Florence.
Archbishop Giuseppe Betori affirmed this in speaking of the conference under way in
his archdiocese on "The Galileo Affair: A Historical, Philosophical and Theological
Re-examination." The event was inaugurated Tuesday 26th May at the Basilica
of the Holy Cross, where Galileo is buried. It is an initiative of the Jesuits' Niels
Stensen Foundation, and is part of the celebrations for the International Year of
Astronomy sponsored by UNESCO. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was at the inauguration.
The conference will feature 33 speakers and has brought together 18 institutions,
including the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Academy of Science, and
the Vatican Observatory. Archbishop Betori who spoke about Galileo and the Church
said that he wants the Year of Astronomy to "re-establish and present again in a creative
way the fundamental dialogue that exists between faith and reason, from the perspective
of a permanent collaboration between the Church and institutions of scientific investigation,
economic development and social promotion." "Faith does not grow with the rejection
of rationality but rather integrates itself in a more ample horizon of rationality,"
Archbishop Betori added. The event ends May 30 in Florence, in the last home where
Galileo lived.