Index Librorum Prohibitorum

The ***Index librorum prohibitorum*** ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden to read them without permission.[1]

There were attempts to censor individual books before the sixteenth century, notably the ninth-century *Decretum Glasianum*, but none of these were either official or widespread.[2] In 1559, Pope Paul IV promulgated the *Pauline Index*, which Paul F. Grendler believed marked "the turning-point for the freedom of enquiry in the Catholic world". After less than a year, it was replaced by the *Tridentine Index* which relaxed aspects of the *Pauline Index* that had been criticized and had prevented its acceptance.[1] The 20th and final edition appeared in 1948, and the *Index* was formally abolished on 14 June 1966 by Pope Paul VI.[3][4]

Pope Paul IV established the *Index of Prohibited Books* which banned thousands of book titles and blacklisted publications, including the works of Europe’s intellectual elites. This index condemned religious texts, readings of romance, and graded authors based off their degree of toxicity.[5] The stated aim of the list was to protect the faith and morals of the faithful by preventing the reading of theologically, culturally, or politically disruptive books. Such books included works by astronomers, such as Johannes Kepler's *Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae* which was on the Index from 1621 to 1835, by philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant's *Critique of Pure Reason* and editions and translations of the Bible that had not been approved. Editions of the *Index* also contained the rules of the Church relating to the reading, selling, and pre-emptive censorship of books.[6]

The canon law of the Latin Church still recommends that works should be submitted to the judgment of the local ordinary if they concern sacred Scripture, theology, canon law, or church history, religion or morals.[7] The local ordinary consults someone whom he considers competent to give a judgment and, if that person gives the *nihil obstat* ("nothing forbids"), the local ordinary grants the *imprimatur* ("let it be printed").[7] Members of religious institutes require the *imprimi potest* ("it can be printed") of their major superior to publish books on matters of religion or morals.[7]

Some of the scientific theories contained in works in early editions of the Index have long been taught at Catholic universities. For example, the general prohibition of books advocating heliocentrism was removed from the *Index* in 1758, but two Franciscan mathematicians had published an edition of Isaac Newton's *Principia Mathematica* (1687) in 1742, with commentaries and a preface stating that the work assumed heliocentrism and could not be explained without it.[8] A work of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati was on the Index, but he was beatified in 2007.[9] Some have argued that the developments since the abolition of the *Index* signify "the loss of relevance of the Index in the 21st century."[10]

J. Martínez de Bujanda's *Index Librorum Prohibitorum, 1600–1966* lists the authors and writings in the successive editions of the *Index*[11], while Miguel Carvalho Abrantes' *Why Did The Inquisition Ban Certain Books?: A Case Study from Portugal* tries to understand why certain books were forbidden based on a Portuguese edition of the *Index Librorum Prohibitorum* from 1581.

## Links:

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index\_Librorum\_Prohibitorum

-https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2011/03/21/index-of-forbidden-books/

-https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/indexlibrorum.asp