Editing Index Librorum Prohibitorum (section)

===Sacred Congregation of the Index (1571–1917)===
{{Roman Curia}}
[[File:Index Librorum Prohibitorum 1711.jpg|thumb|Title page of the {{lang|la|Index Librorum Prohibitorum}} (1711)]]

In 1571, a special [[Congregation (Roman Curia)|congregation]] was created, the '''Sacred Congregation of the Index''', which had the specific task to investigate those writings that were denounced in [[Rome]] as being not exempt of errors, to update the list of Pope Pius IV regularly and also to make lists of required corrections in case a writing was not to be condemned absolutely but only in need of correction; it was then listed with a mitigating clause (e.g., {{lang|la|donec corrigatur}} ('forbidden until corrected') or {{lang|la|donec expurgetur}} ('forbidden until purged')).{{cn|date=June 2017}}

Several times a year, the congregation held meetings. During the meetings, they reviewed various works and documented those discussions. In between the meetings was when the works to be discussed were thoroughly examined, and each work was scrutinized by two people. At the meetings, they collectively decided whether or not the works should be included in the Index. Ultimately, the pope was the one who had to approve of works being added or removed from the Index. It was the documentation from the meetings of the congregation that aided the pope in making his decision.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Heneghan |first=Thomas |title=Secrets Behind The Forbidden Books |journal=America |date=2005 |volume=192 |issue=4 |url=http://americamagazine.org/issue/517/article/secrets-behindthe-forbidden-books |access-date=27 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726125102/http://americamagazine.org/issue/517/article/secrets-behindthe-forbidden-books |archive-date=26 July 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Galileo before the Holy Office.jpg|thumb|left|[[Galileo]] being condemned in 1633]]
This sometimes resulted in very long lists of corrections, published in the {{lang|la|Index Expurgatorius}}, which was cited by [[Thomas James]] in 1627 as "an invaluable reference work to be used by the curators of the [[Bodleian Library]] when listing those works particularly worthy of collecting".<ref>
{{citation |title=Encyclopedia on Censorship |first1=Jonathan |last1=Green |first2=Nicholas J. |last2=Karolides |page=257 |publisher=Facts on File, Inc |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bunHURgi7FcC&pg=PA257|isbn=9781438110011}}</ref> Prohibitions made by other congregations (mostly the Holy Office) were simply passed on to the Congregation of the Index, where the final [[decree]]s were drafted and made public, after approval of the [[Pope]] (who always had the option to condemn an author personally—there are only a few examples of such condemnation, including those of [[Lamennais]] and [[George Hermes|Hermes]]).{{cn|date=June 2017}}

An update to the Index was made by Pope [[Leo XIII]], in the 1897 apostolic constitution {{lang|la|[[Officiorum ac Munerum]]}}, known as the {{lang|la|Index Leonianus}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03519d.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Censorship of Books|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref> Subsequent editions of the Index were more sophisticated; they graded authors according to their supposed degree of toxicity, and they marked specific passages for expurgation rather than condemning entire books.<ref>Lyons, Martyn. (2011). Books: A Living History. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Publications. {{ISBN|978-1-60606-083-4}}, p. 83</ref>

The [[Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition]] of the Roman Catholic Church later became the [[Holy Office]], and since 1965 has been called the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]]. The Congregation of the Index was merged with the Holy Office in 1917, by the {{lang|la|[[motu proprio]] Alloquentes Proxime}} of Pope Benedict XV; the rules on the reading of books were again re-elaborated in the new {{lang|la|Codex Iuris Canonici}}. From 1917 onward, the Holy Office (again) took care of the Index.{{cn|date=June 2017}}

[[File:Mein Kampf dust jacket.jpeg|thumb|upright=0.6|Although Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg's book ''[[Myth of the Twentieth Century]]'' was placed on the Index, Adolf Hitler's book {{lang|de|[[Mein Kampf]]}} was not.<ref name= AmericMag />]]