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Rh motion of the earth and the sun at all under pain of punishment as a relapsed heretic, and that his book should be prohibited. The decree was not at once made public, so that Niccolini put in a further plea for a speedy end to the trial, and was informed by the Pope that it was already ended, that Galileo would soon be sentenced, and that afterwards he would consult with Niccolini in order to minimise the distress Galileo would suffer. By way of letting him down gently, Niccolini only told Galileo that the trial would soon end, and that his book would be prohibited. This course was suggested by the Pope, who said things might possibly take a better turn.

On June 21 Galileo appeared before the judges once more. He stated in reply to questions that since he had been ordered to abandon them, he had not held the opinions of Copernicus as to the motion of the earth, and this he repeated when threatened with torture if he did not speak the truth. He signed his depositions and was detained somewhere in the Inquisition buildings till June 24. On June 22 he was summoned to receive sentence. The names of ten Cardinal Inquisitors were prefixed to the document read to Galileo, in which was recounted the whole gist of the proceedings of 1616, with its findings, including the famous minute, and an account of the admissions, forced and otherwise, made by the accused in the course of the further proceedings in the matter of the Dialogues. The successive steps were detailed showing how Galileo had first denied the accusations and defended himself, and then withdrawn his arguments and admitted his guilt, ultimately answering, under rigorous examination, "like a good Catholic". Then followed the actual sentence: Galileo being "vehemently suspected of heresy" for holding the doctrine of the motion of the earth, decreed contrary to Holy Scripture, has incurred grievous pains and penalties, but will be absolved if he will "