Index of Forbidden Books

(From CATHOLIC ALMANAC). A list of books which Catholics were formerly forbidden to read, possess or sell, under penalty of excommunication. These books were banned by the Holy See after publication because their treatment of matters of faith and morals were judged to be erroneous or serious occasions of doctrinal error. Some books were listed in the Index by name; others were covered under general norms. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared June 14, 1966, that the Index and its related penalties of excommunication no longer had the force of law in the Church, Persons are still obliged, however, to take normal precautions against occasions of doctrinal error.

The first Roman Index of Prohibited Books, which served the same purposes as earlier lists [see below], was published in 1559 by the Holy Office at the order of Paul IV. The Council of Trent. with the approval of the same pope, authorized another Index in 1564, Seven years later, St. Pius V set up a special Congregation for the Reform of the Index and Correction of Books, and gave it universal jurisdiction.

CHRISTIAN COMMENT

We are often told by Catholic apologists that we err when we say the Bible in the vernacular was put on the list of forbidden books by the Council of Toulouse in 1229. They say there was no list of forbidden books then. Yet an article from THE WANDERER, 5.18.95, page 11, admits that "the first list of 'condemned books' (was) published in A.D. 405 by Innocent I."