This quote from Brief History of Time (p. 116) is cited on a number of anti-Christian websites as evidence that the Church continues to repress sincere seekers of the truth. A couple of observations should be made.

First I assume that Hawking's "strong sense of identity" with Galileo caused him to get a little carried away and that he knew he was in no danger from the pope. Still it was a strange bit of imaginary drama to insert into science book for laymen.

A more serious question is whether the pope even made the statement. I've had a few people throw Hawking's version of it in my face as an example of Catholic obscurantism, but none were able to come up with the original statement. The Holy Father's 1981 Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences evidences nothing like what Hawking claims. The Newman Center at Cal Tech has a list of the pope's messages regarding Faith and Science. He speaks about the urgent need for science and faith to benefit from each other, but at no point does he tell scientists there is something they should not inquire into. No "work of God" should be off limits and any one of them (particularly the big bang) points to the Creator.

**********