"... objecting to Benedict's presence, citing words from a 1990 lecture in which he seemed to justify the Vatican’s condemnation of the astronomer Galileo Galilei in the 17th century."

I would love to see the original context of Benedict's lecture, and then to see the way these faculty members presented the context of his wording. I have a sense the faculty members chose to see in his words whatever dark clouds they wished to see.

Benedict strikes me as a careful writer and speaker. My guess is he was making a more subtle point, and the faculty members opted to seize the words out of context to make their point ... whatever that point really is. I doubt their motives are entirely what they say their motives are.