A Fun Fact Almost Forgotten If It Were Not For the Prattling About Giordano Bruno Today

To the Humanist no Latin poem was correct that did not measure up to the classical standards of the Augustan Age.  Any deviation from this standard was a barbarism.  "The Humanists,"  says Father Clemens Blume, S.J.  "abominated the rhythmical poetry of the Middle Ages from an exaggerated enthusiasm for ancient classical forms and meters.  Hymnody then received its death blow as, on the revision of the Breviary under Pope Urban VIII, the medieval rhythmical hymns were forced into more classical forms by means of so-called corrections."  (Cath. Encycl., Art.  Hymnody).  Pope Urban was himself a Humanist, the last in fact of the Humanist Popes.  During his reign a commission was appointed to revise the Breviary, and a special commission of four distinguished Jesuit scholars,..... 

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal:   Matthew Britt

Urban VIII was, of course, the Pope who was offended when Galileo mocked him as a simpleton and who lowered the boom on him in one of the gentler forms available to a late Renissance Pope.  He, himself, was an accomplished Latin poet and a lavish patron of the arts and sciences.

The point is, that today's "Humanists,"  through misappropriation of the name they have no intellectual right to, have associated themselves with one of the figures of history who they officially most abominate.

Update:  Here's another thing that would be fun to cite in argument with a "Humanist" gassing on Galileowise

In the early days of his reign, Galileo had reason to believe Maffeo Barberini's elevation to Pope might lead to a loosening of the Church's opposition to Copernican thought.  Pope Urban VIII received Galileo for six long audiences.  Although a humanist largely baffled by scientific principles, Urban VIII seemed genuinely interested in Galileo's ideas.  Urban VIII assured Galileo that as long as he remained Pope, the memory of Copernicus had nothing to fear.

Eventually, however, the Pope's pride and suspicious would produce the dramatic confrontation with Galileo that culminated with his arrest, trial, and conviction in 1633.  The troubles developed after Pope Urban VIII gave Galileo permission to write a book discussing the contending views of the universe: his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.   Galileo's biggest mistake seems to have been putting into the mouth of an ignorant, literal-minded character named Simplicio the Pope's own views, offered to Galileo in 1623, concerning God's omnipotence.  Urban VIII had argued that an all-powerful God could make the Sun and other heavenly bodies do as he pleased--notwithstanding the laws of physics.  In his Dialogue, Galileo provided a response that must have made the Pope feel foolish:  "Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh heavier than lead, and with thier wings exceedingly small.  He did not, and that ought to show something.  It is only in order to shield your ignorance that you put the Lord at every turn to the refuge of a miracle."

Upset with what he saw as ridicule of his argument and convinced that the Dialogue was nothing but a thinly-veiled brief for the Copernican model, the Pope swung the machinery of the Church into motion against Galileo.  The Pope insisted upon a formal sentence, a tough examination of Galileo, public abjuration, and "formal prison." In June 1633, the Pope got his wish.

Perhaps Galileo was, actually, the victim of humanism?  Urban VIII is often cited as the pope who wanted to re-establish the humanism that the Counter Reformation rather put a wet blanket on.  You can read this, in the description of his famous tomb designed by Bernini

 Bernini, however, removes Prudence and instead chooses Charity to mirror Justice.  The inclusion of Charity instead of Prudence is to enforce that Urban was the Vicar of Christ.  Jesus is considered the ideal example of a just and merciful, or charitable, figure, while a ruler was remembered as just and prudent.  This intentional composition choice is in direct opposition to Urban’s renewal of humanist, Pre-Counter Reformation thought and ostentation.

For what it's worth, I looked to see if Pope Clement VII, a pope who was very enthusiastic about the Copernican system, during his life, was a humanist but he is not listed in any of the lists of "humanist Popes" that I've been able to find.  Ironic, no, that it was the last of the humanist popes who prosecuted Galileo and it may well have been a non-humanist pope who was enthusiastic for the system that the humanist pope tried to suppress.

For instance, he discovered that the orbit of the Earth had variable eccentricity and that the apogee of the Sun moved towards the fixed stars. Because of this, the writing of De Revolutionibus was much delayed and became the subject of many changes and corrections. And even when all the books were completed, Copernicus did not consider them ready for print, but perused them over and over again verifying all the details and calculations with new calculations.

Concerned about the implications of his discovery, its novelty and inconceivableness, he preferred to keep the results of his labors for himself and for a few close friends. However, word of his work spread among the circles of mathematicians and astronomers.

Lectures on the principles expounded in the Commentariolus were given in Rome in 1533 before Pope Clement VII who approved of the theory. A formal request to publish was made by Nicholas Schonberg, Cardinal of Capua. From Rome he sent Copernicus a letter, dated November 1, 1536, encouraging him to publish the work or at least to send him a copy of the manuscript. Copernicus declined the request. Others also urged him to publish De Revolutionibus. The most ardent among them was his good friend, Tiedeman Giese, then bishop of Chełmno (Kulm) and earlier canon of the Warmia chapter.