WI The Vatican condemned Space Travel during The Space Race?

Skokie

Banned
ASB.

OTL, the Catholic Church was mostly comfortable with science and technology, or at least they liked to pretend as much. The Church claims its teachings are "rational." A Belgian priest came up with Big Bang theory.

Regarding space: the Church even created the "Queen of the Universe" devotion to the Virgin Mary (complete with images of the BVM superimposed over supernovae) in order to get lay Catholics comfortable with the prospect of interstellar travel and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, which, I suppose, everyone in the early '60s thought was right around the corner.

The enemies of the Church were Enlightenment thinkers, Romantics, Protestants, materialists, feminists, and basically anyone who questioned the existence of souls, God and Christian morality. But by the '60s and Vatican II, even those people weren't being pursued so much.

When did the Catholic Church start getting left-wing economically?

It's only "left-wing" in American terms. In Europe, the right-wing (which the Church is definitely a part of) was never synonymous with capitalism.
 

Hendryk

Banned
I agree with those who consider this WI implausible. There is no doctrinal reason for the Church to oppose space exploration.

When did the Catholic Church start getting left-wing economically?
If by "left-wing" you mean opposed to unrestrained capitalism, then at least since the Rerum Novarum encyclical of 1891, which is one of the foundational documents of Christian Democracy.
 
If by "left-wing" you mean opposed to unrestrained capitalism, then at least since the Rerum Novarum encyclical of 1891, which is one of the foundational documents of Christian Democracy.

Hmm...earlier than I thought. I thought it might have had to do with Vatican 2 and "liberation theology."
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
For any who are interested, there is an interesting science fiction book called "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell, about the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence (kept secret from teh world at large, IIRC) and the dispatch of a Jesuit mission to them. It's been many years since I read it, but I recall thinking it was a very interesting story.
 

Hendryk

Banned
Hmm...earlier than I thought. I thought it might have had to do with Vatican 2 and "liberation theology."
One interesting thing about that encyclical is that it preempts the "initiation of force" argument which I've often seen used by Libertarians:

There underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.
 
how much credibility did the Church lose when the Pope not just condemned but outright banned the use of crossbows?

If I remember correctly, I think it was a ban on William Tell-esque demonstrations using crossbows. I could be wrong though.

EDIT: Even if I am incorrect above, the world of today and the world of yesterday are two very different things. I highly doubt the Vatican would be able to make such a statement without attracting much controversy.
 
I agree with those who consider this WI implausible. There is no doctrinal reason for the Church to oppose space exploration.


If by "left-wing" you mean opposed to unrestrained capitalism, then at least since the Rerum Novarum encyclical of 1891, which is one of the foundational documents of Christian Democracy.

Hmm...earlier than I thought. I thought it might have had to do with Vatican 2 and "liberation theology."
How is Vatican 2 earlier than 1891?
 
First of all, after all the anti-Catholic sentiment JFK faced in '60, he was not going to change his dedication to space simply because the Pope disapproved. Battles over parochial school funding caused enough political wars as it was. Even POAU (the umbrella AC organization in '60) said "we support the President against the bishops of his church." Secondly, this is pure ASB.
 
For some reason I find the idea of a Vatican Space Program interesting. I find the Vatican being involved in the Space Race strangely hilarious.
 
Didn't Vatican 2 specifically include statements that the Catholic church will not take positions on physics and astronomy?
 
The Kiat is quite correct; the Catholic Church would never condemn space travel - it is looking forward to finding E.T.'s; also, despite the (Anglophone) mythology, the Catholic Church has generally been supportive of scientific research whilst calling for care for the ethical implications. For example, the Catholic Church has never had difficulty with the theory of Evolution. Even the Pope of Darwin's day, who anathematised most things at the drop of a hat did'nt see it as an issue.
As a correction however, the Catholic Church has never condemned stem cell research, only embryonic stem cell research.
Also it is worth pointin gout that when the scientific establishment was all in favour of eugenics, the Catholic Church was one of the few groups that opposed it. The Catholic Church has certainly got it wrong often enough, you do'nt need to invent stuff.

Indeed, the problem is usually far more the protestants what with their entire religion being based upon analysing what the scriptures actually say.
 

Edge

Banned
Rather impossible.
Catholic Church contrary to common myth is quite open to the idea of life in space and catholic theology has studied such problems since eary Middle Ages.
All of such issues as First Sin, Messiah have been debated and while they have not been to my knowledge declared by pope as binding their remain open for adoption by Catholic Church when the time is right.

People might confuse Catholic Church's stance on science and evolution with that with of fundamentalist catholics and protestants in USA, which is far more strcit and as written above more based on direct interpretation of Bible then complicated theology.

http://www.disf.org/en/Voci/65.asp
 
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