by Eveline Kobler, swissinfo.ch

The new Swiss president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences tells swissinfo.ch about the challenges of squaring religious faith with science.
Werner Arber, an Aargau-born microbiologist and geneticist who shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Medicine, is the first Protestant to hold the position.

The 81-year-old heads a body that is meant to keep the pope up to date with the latest scientific developments. Historically, however, the Catholic Church has had a strained relationship with science, most notably with Italian scientist Galileo.

The church took exception to Galileo’s insistence that the earth wasn’t the centre of the universe. In 1633 he was found “vehemently suspect of heresy” and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. The church eventually realised Galileo was in fact correct, but it was only in 1992 – almost 360 years later – that Pope John Paul II “expressed regret” for how he was treated.

read more:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science_technology/Galileo_s_heirs_advise_the_pope_.html?cid=30059602