From Galilee to Galaxy

1984

Cartoon

Christianity is 2000 years old. The Milky Way Galaxy is 13.2 billion years old
(almost as old as the rest of this Universe). It takes a greatamount of faith to
correlate the two.

In 1984, during John Paul II’s papacy, the Catholic Church (born in Galilee) finally legitimized
‘heliocentric theory’. This theory had first been advanced by Galileo some 360 years earlier.
Galileo was put on trial for his beliefs in 1633, and excommunicated.

From the dome of St. Peter’s a telescope emerges, the instrument hat Galileo used to study
our planetary system. During his trial Galileo had to recant on the idea that the Earth moves around
the Sun.
Legend has it that, on leaving the tribunal, he loudly muttered, ‘And yet it moves’.

We see the Christmas comet from two points of view, that of Galileo and that of the ‘Galilean’
- the Pope (from whose tunic hang St. Peter's keys). The work conveys the difficulties
encountered in attempting to bridge incomprehension between two men separated
by a gulf of time and understanding.