Story highlights The Vatican is urging a rethink of the "mischaracterization" of its relationship with science

Monsignor Tomasz Trafny says Catholics should feel they can embrace science

The Vatican is hosting a conference on stem cell research, beginning April 11

But a genetic scientist says some elements of Church teachings remain "unrealistic"

Dropping to his knees before the 10 cardinals of the Inquisition, dressed in the white shirt of penitence, Galileo Galilei was forced to retract his "heretic" theory that the Earth moved around the Sun. Threatened with torture and interrogated for 18 days, the scientist, who was imprisoned in the 17th century, promised to never again teach the theory and spent the rest of his life under house arrest in his small farmhouse outside of Florence.

Galileo's fate was very different from that of other scientists at the time of the Inquisition. Some were executed for threatening the church's teachings. Italian astronomer Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher who argued that the universe was infinite, was burned at the stake.

Now in 2013, as Pope Francis settles into his new role as leader of the Catholic Church, the Vatican's head of science is urging a re-think of the "mischaracterization" of the relationship between the church and science.

The Vatican would like the world to see how much this relationship has changed.

With the new pope being himself a trained scientist -- Francis graduated as a chemical technician before moving on to study philosophy, psychology and theology -- the timing could be right for a new era of cooperation between the Vatican and science, building on the work of the STOQ Project -- Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest -- which was created by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

Since his election as pontiff, Vatican-watchers have been searching for signals about the direction in which Francis will take the church. Even in his inaugural speech, he referenced the importance of environmental stewardship and an appreciation of the natural world:

"Let us be "protectors" of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment."

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According to Oxford University theologian Dr. William Carroll, Pope Francis' remarks suggest he may be planning to use his papacy to refocus the world's attention on tackling global warming and other environmental issues.

Embracing science

Monsignor Tomasz Trafny, the Director of the Vatican's Science and Faith Foundation, which was created last year, thinks that the new pope will continue the progress already made in building ties with the scientific community. He says the Vatican today has a very positive relationship with science.

"There was a time when theologians thought they understood everything, but we learned the lesson from history", he told CNN.

Acknowledging that the Galileo era was a dark period for the church, Trafny says that the modern-day Vatican is much more careful not to tread on the toes of science.

"If you look at what is going on today you will see that theologians are very careful about what they are thinking or speaking about related to scientific issues."

Trafny will co-host a conference focusing on adult stem cell therapies with the pharmaceutical company NeoStem at the Vatican on April 11, a project which the Vatican has partly funded.

This unusual marriage of church and biotech is a targeted public affairs initiative. The Vatican aims to use the partnership to show people there is an alternative to embryonic stem cell research - which it vehemently opposes - that doesn't involve the destruction of human embryos.

"We want to tell people that they can easily feel like good Catholics without any embarrassing situations or difficulties embracing science."

Taboos remain

But even some within the Vatican's own scientific community have concerns about the the church's firm stance on other matters. As well as embryonic stem cell research, the church, for instance, still rejects contraception, which is seen to interfere with God's will.

Dr. Werner Arber, the head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a Nobel Prize-winning genetic scientist, says in some areas the Vatican's approach remains problematic. He works as an adviser to the Vatican on matters of scientific development and regularly provides recommendations on areas of overlap between science and faith.

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