Originally Posted by
Satch12879
I had a long rebuttal to many of these points, really this line of thinking, because it is itself a constructed narrative that while intuiting well, is not consistent with the history of the Church, its approach to learning and literacy, nor of the character and the consequences of the Protestant revolt. The details are all wrong, but thinking harder on this, I agree your thesis is probably correct. I do not believe that those who you deem as the "new priesthood" are actually any kind of legitimate authority. what you're seeing is to me inter-faction conflict and with brutal consequences for the average man, which has been going on since that thunderbolt failed to kill Luther all those centuries ago.
That being said, Galileo was an obstinate, backstabbing, disobedient asshole who received every indulgence and goodwill from many, many people who gave him every courtesy and lots of money and patronage. This fairy tale about his secular sainthood needs to die once and for all, as well.