In a historical rarity, a pope has chosen to cancel a speech because of opposition to his views.

Surely Galileo, who was condemned by the Inquisition in the early 1600s for arguing that the Earth revolves around the Sun, must be rolling in his grave: His successors in the scientific and academic worlds are so opposed to Pope Benedict XVI’s viewpoint that they have successfully censored him.

The pontiff canceled a speech at the prestigious Sapienza University in Rome amid opposition by professors and students, who contended that he is hostile to science.

“Following the well-known events of recent days,” a Vatican statement noted, “it seems opportune to delay the event.” The statement added that a text of the speech, which was to be given last Thursday, would still be sent to the university.

Dozens of students who staged a sit-in at the university — where banners had been hung urging Benedict to stay away — cheered after the statement was released, according to press reports.

As free-speech enthusiasts, we are pleased that the pontiff’s decision also has provoked anger about intimidation and censorship, and fresh scrutiny of Italy’s always-sensitive relations between its religious and secular traditions.
To that end, university Rector Renato Guarini told reporters that the cancellation was “a defeat for the freedom of expression.”

The pope’s speech at the university, which (ironically enough) was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303 and is now public, was to mark the start of the academic year.

The students and professors who objected to Benedict’s address cited a 1990 speech by him — then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — on Galileo, in which the future pope quoted Austrian philosopher Paul Feyerabend as saying, “The church at the time was much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself, and also took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo’s doctrine. Its verdict against Galileo was rational and just.”

The then-cardinal did not argue against the validity of science generally, or take the church’s position from Galileo’s time that heliocentrism was heretical, but he said science should not close off religion — and that science always has been used in destructive ways.

While we may think the pontiff’s opinions are far from inerrant, we assuredly believe he still has the right to express his views in an open forum.

We only wish SU’s professors and students would put their efforts into refuting Benedict, rather than trying to squelch his views. Why the fear?