Pope John Paul II has expressed his wish to make amends to those the Roman Catholic Church has wronged in history, like Galileo, as part of the Jubilee year in 2000. According to a leading Savonarola scholar, the Reverend Armando Verde, a Dominican priest in Pistoia, Italy, it is possible and ''even a little bit probable'' that Savonarola will be rehabilitated by the church. The archbishop of Florence, meanwhile, has opened the beatification cause, aimed at verifying the so-called ''heroic virtues'' that would make Savonarola an official object of veneration in the church.
Beatification is often a first step toward canonization or sainthood.
The Dominicans have never disowned Savonarola, although today not all are in favor of the beatification cause. But for the city of Florence, it is a matter of civic pride. The early church gave its wealth to the poor, he said, but now disdainful prelates robbed the poor to pay for their palaces and finery. Alexander displayed remarkable tolerance for a while. He was too busy testing the outer limits of priestly celibacy and feathering the nests of his children to be much interested in religion.