Those Wacky Catholics

Under the headline "Vatican: Faithful Should Listen to Science":

See It Now

Please know that we include this in our green-in-at-least-two-ways pages in an almost entirely "'A' for effort", "Thanks for trying", "Better late than never" sort of spirit. Standing Eight has a soft spot for the Catholic Church (ouch,) and wants to see it do well. But we did note with a lapsed chuckle the following graf (yes that's how we spell it in journalism,):

"The Vatican project was inspired by Pope John Paul II's 1992 declaration that the church's 17th-century denunciation of Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension." Galileo was condemned for supporting Nicolaus Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun; church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe." (Italics property of Standing Eight.)

"Tragic mutual incomprehension," meaning that Galileo was every bit as uncomprehending and as culpable as the pontiff. Well done JP II, tres diplomatique. And by the way, theoretical readers: if a pope now or in the future should ever offer to apologize to Standing Eight, please remind us to simply say "Grazie, ma no grazie." (Seriously, don't steal our italics.)