Editing Index Librorum Prohibitorum (section)

{{short description|Books prohibited by the Catholic Church (16th–20th centuries)}}
{{title language|la}}
{{about|the bibliographic index|the fictional character|List of A Certain Magical Index characters#Index}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}
[[File:Index Librorum Prohibitorum 1.jpg|thumb|The master title page of {{lang|la|Index Librorum Prohibitorum}} (in Venice, 1564)]]
{{Catholic Counter-Reformation|expanded=inquisition}}

The '''{{lang|la|Index Librorum Prohibitorum}}''' (English: '''''Index of Forbidden Books''''') was a changing list of publications deemed [[heretical]] or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former [[dicastery]] of the [[Roman Curia]]); [[Catholics]] were forbidden to print or read them, subject to the local bishop.<ref name="PFGrendler">[https://books.google.com/books?id=jJnyxg3xxTEC&q=The+Cambridge+History+of+Renaissance+Philosophy%2C+Charles+B.+Schmitt%2C Grendler, Paul F. "Printing and censorship" in ''The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy''], Charles B. Schmitt, ed. ([[Cambridge University Press]], 1988, {{ISBN|978-0-52139748-3}}) pp. 45–46</ref> Catholic states could enact laws to adapt or adopt the list and enforce it.

The ''Index'' was active from 1560 to 1966.<ref>The 20th and final edition of the ''Index'' appeared in 1948; the ''Index'' was formally abolished on 14 June 1966 by [[Pope Paul VI]]. {{cite web |title=Notification regarding the abolition of the Index of books |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19660614_de-indicis-libr-prohib_en.html |date=1966-06-14}}</ref><ref name="Hubert168">{{Cite book |last=Adriányi |first=Gabriel |title=The Church in the Modern Age |last2=Dolan |first2=John |last3=Jedin |first3=Hubert |date=1981 |publisher=Crossroad |isbn=978-0-8245-0013-9 |series=History of the Church |volume=10 |location=New York |page=168 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Kusukawa |first=Sachiko |title=Galileo and Books |url=http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/galbooks.html |website=Starry Messenger |date=1999}}</ref> It banned thousands of book titles and blacklisted publications, including the works of Europe's intellectual elites.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lenard |first=Max |title=On the origin, development and demise of the ''Index librorum prohibitorum'' |journal=Journal of Access Services |date=2006 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=51–63 |s2cid=144325885 |doi=10.1300/J204v03n04_05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/censorship |last=Anastaplo |first=George |title=Censorship |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=April 5, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Censorship of Books |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |date=1908 |last=Hilgers |first=Joseph |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03519d.htm |volume=3 |access-date=April 5, 2022}}</ref>

The ''Index'' condemned religious and secular texts alike, grading works by the degree to which they were deemed to be repugnant, potentially misleading and / or heretical to the Sacred Congregation of the Index at the time.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Living History|last=Lyons|first=Martyns|year=2011|location=Los Angeles|pages=Chapter 2}}</ref> The aim of the list was to protect church members from reading theologically, culturally, or politically disruptive books. At times such books included the works of theologians, such as [[Robert Bellarmine]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Giannini |first1=Massimo Carlo |title=Robert Bellarmine: Jesuit, Intellectual, Saint |url=https://www.unigre.it/en/la-gregoriana/58/robert-bellarmine-jesuit-intellectual-saint/ |website=Pontifical Gregorian University |access-date=30 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref> and [[astronomer]]s, such as [[Johannes Kepler]]'s {{lang|la|[[Epitome astronomiae Copernicanae]]}} (published in three volumes from 1618 to 1621), which was on the Index from 1621 to 1835; [[philosopher]]s, such as [[Antonio Rosmini-Serbati]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Cardinal Saraiva calls new blessed Antonio Rosmini "giant of the culture" |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/11037/cardinal-saraiva-calls-new-blessed-antonio-rosmini-giant-of-the-culture |website=Catholic News Agency}}</ref> and [[Immanuel Kant]]'s ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'' (1781); 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 preemptive censorship of books.<ref>''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'', 1559, Regula Quarta ("Rule 4")</ref>