The expressions "the case of Galilei" and "the Galilean question" induce researchers to reflect on an analogous condemnation issued by the repressive bodies of the Catholic Church about two hundred and fifty years afterwards. This was the condemnation of a priest, Antonio Rosmini- Serbati, who had tried to reconcile tradition with advancement in philosophical-scientific reflection. Rosmini was condemned in 1887 by a Post obitum decree of the Holy Inquisition. He could not submit to that conviction as did Galilei, because by then he had been dead for thirty-two years. Before his death in 1855, Rosmini endured the disappointment of a condemnation in the Index of two of his works (1849), but later received absolution across the board for his philosophical and theological production (1854). After his death, his opponents contested this official decision and succeeded in having him convicted. Thus historians write about "Rosminian question", and "Rosmini case". In the present essay we compare the dimensions of the two "questions", and we note that the "rehabilitation" of Rosmini has gone through a Note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2001, while no official pronouncement has "rehabilitated" Galilei.
Galilei; Rosmini; Rosminian question; Galilean question; Holy Inquisition; Catholic Church