Rael offers to help Giordano Bruno's descendants obtain compensation from the Vatican

LAS VEGAS, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "The world should never forget that it was the Catholic Church who burned Giordano Bruno alive for stating more than 400 years ago that it's possible that there are other planets and that there may even be life on those planets," spiritual leader Rael declared after seeing a recent episode of the new program "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" that featured a segment about Bruno's "heresy."

"Despite its words of regret in 2000 for the barbaric death of Giordano Bruno, the Vatican has never offered any apology or compensation to his family, whose honor has been tarnished for centuries," Rael added in a statement released today by the International Raelian Movement. "I want to offer financial help to Bruno's descendants so they can launch legal action against the Vatican to obtain $100 million in compensation for the torture and murder of their ancestor and reestablish their name and the honor of the family."

In addition, Rael pointed out that Bruno's murder prevented humanity from receiving a huge amount of scientific knowledge.

With that loss in mind, on February 17, 2004, the Raelian Movement paid tribute to Bruno by holding a "Planetary Day of Mourning" in his memory, including demonstrations asking for Bruno's rehabilitation.

"Rael himself went to the Campo dei Fiori in Rome, where Bruno, a philosopher and defrocked monk, was burned alive on February 17, 1600," said Brigitte Boisselier, IRM spokesperson.

She pointed out that the Bruno family had to wait until February 18, 2000, exactly 400 years later, for Cardinal Angelo Sodarno, undersecretary of state of the Vatican, to express the "deep regret" of the Catholic Church for its death sentence against Giordano Bruno, which Sodarno referred to as "a terrible death" and "a sad episode in recent Christian history."

"Those regrets are not enough," Rael said in today's statement. "The United Nations and all of the world's scientists should officially ask the Vatican for a complete apology!"

He then extended an invitation to Bruno's descendants, asking them to contact the Italian Raelian Movement.

"I want to offer them legal and financial help in filing their long overdue suit against the Vatican," he said.

SOURCE Raelian Movement

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