“We, Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, having heard that it is calumniously reported that Signor Galileo Galilei has in our hand abjured, and has also been punished with salutary penance, and being requested to state the truth as to this, declare, that the said Signor Galileo has not abjured, either in our hand, or the hand of any other person here in Rome, or anywhere else, so far as we know, any opinion or doctrine held by him, neither has any salutary penance been imposed upon him; but only the declaration made by the Holy Father and published by the sacred Congregation of the Index, has been intimated to him, wherein it is set forth that the doctrine attributed to Copernicus, that the earth moves round the sun, and that the sun is stationary in the centre of the world, and does not move from east to west, is contrary to the Holy Scriptures, and therefore cannot be defended or held. In witness whereof we have written and subscribed these presents with our hand this 26th day of May, 1616.”[147] Wohlwill has clearly shown the discrepancies between this document and that of 26th February; he has pointed out that even if, as Martin thinks, “the secrets of the Inquisition had to be kept at any price, even at the expense of truth,”[148] it would not have put forth so downright a lie in _optima forma_ as the cardinal’s testimony contained, if the assumed prohibition had really been given to Galileo by the Commissary-General of the Inquisition. This prohibition might easily have been passed over in silence, while the calumnious reports might have been refuted. But the cardinal was not content with that, and stated expressly that Galileo had “only” been personally informed of the decree of the Congregation of the Index about the Copernican system. While this attestation of Bellarmine’s glaringly contradicts the second part of the note of 26th February, it not only entirely accords with the papal ordinance of the 25th, but also with Bellarmine’s report of the proceedings of 26th February in the private sitting of the Congregation of 3rd March. This proves that the cardinal certified nothing more nor less than what had actually taken place. It leads therefore to the following conclusions:— 1. Galileo did not receive any prohibition, except the cardinal’s admonition not to defend nor hold the Copernican doctrine. 2. Entire silence on the subject was therefore not enjoined upon him. 3. The second part of the note in the Vatican MS. of 26th February, 1616, is therefore untrue.