Does the church offer a way Galileo to receive pardon for his crimes?

Answer 1

On October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and officially conceded that the Earth was not stationary, as the result of a study conducted by the Pontifical Council for Culture. In March 2008 the Vatican proposed to complete its rehabilitation of Galileo by erecting a statue of him inside the Vatican walls. In December of the same year, during events to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's earliest telescopic observations, Pope Benedict XVI praised his contributions to astronomy.

Answer 2

Galileo was excommunicated in the early 1600's. It was not until very recently did the Catholic Church forgive him. It was between the late 1800's and the mid 1900's. I can't recall which year, I just know it's in that time zone.
i think it was not really church had forgiven Galileo but instead,it was the church who asked forgiveness from what they did to Galileo. if not because of the humility of JOhn Paul II, the hierarchy of the church will remain in their since of pride of not accepting that they are infallible,

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Catholic AnswerThis is a case of ridiculous misinformation blow all out of proportion. Galileo was not pardoned by the Church, under Pope John Paul II, of happy memory, they looked into the case, again. But the fact of the matter is, that there were people in the Church trying to uphold Scripture, and Galileo was trying to force a theory as fact. The Church, at that time, was very considerate of Galileo, he, on the other hand, was NOT being at all considerate. He wasn't even abiding by his own sworn testimony. Totally unrelated, but the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ and is infallible in matters of faith and morals, of which, this was never a case. The Church thoroughly examined the case at the time, and sided with Galileo as long as he taught his theory as a theory, until such time as he had proof, which he never obtained. Others have looked into the matter and concluded that the Church was the only one that came out of this case looking good, the rest is all balderdash. Please see the links below.

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Galileo was teaching the heliocentric theory of Copernicus as fact. Cardinal Bellarmine disagreed with him and said that it disagreed with Scripture. Galileo, though, was a personal friend of the Pope at that time. The Inquisition looked into the case and told him that he could teach, but only as a theory until he had some proof - which he didn't. Galileo agreed, then turned around, and ignored his solemn word to the Inquisition, figuring that he knew better, even though he still had no proof, he continued to teach Copernicus theory as fact. The Inquisition arrested him for violating his sworn word, and held him in a rather comfortable accommodation. Galileo berated everybody, including his friend, the Pope. He did not exactly endear himself to anyone, even though everyone was trying to help him! For more of the story, see the link below at the Catholic Encyclopedia.