See, this is the kind of thing the Catholic press should be doing…all the time. Because statements like this are made …all the time.

Catholic News Service corrects Senator Specter:

What does a pope elected at the end of the 13th century have to do with the Senate debate about embryonic stem-cell research?

Pope Boniface VIII, best known for his efforts to exercise temporal power over the French monarchy, was cited — albeit misidentified — by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., from the Senate floor July 18 to represent religious leaders who had slowed scientific progress over the centuries.

"Pope Boniface VII (sic) banned the practice of cadaver dissection in the 1200s," Specter said. "This stopped the practice for over 300 years and greatly slowed the accumulation of education regarding human anatomy."

Boniface VII, an antipope who held the papacy during three separate periods in the late 900s, is clearly not the pope to whom Specter was referring. Boniface VIII served from 1294 to 1303.

But neither of the Bonifaces, nor any other pope, was responsible for the type of ban cited by Specter, most historical sources agree.

Read the whole thing, including the part about Servetus, whom Specter said was "tried and imprisoned by the Catholic Church." The article says Servetus did indeed run into trouble with Catholic authorities, but because of his theological beliefs, not what he said about the circulatory system.

But Servetus was eventually executed…

…by the Calvinists.