The Renaissance

Index

A list of books that the Catholic Church
held to be contrary to church doctrine,
and thus forbidden to its members. The
official name of the list was theIndex Li-
brorum Prohibitorum, or List of Forbidden
Books. The first edition of the Index was
published in the Netherlands in 1529,
while the first to be published in Rome
appeared during the Papacy of Paul IV in
1557.

The Index contained rules concerning
the publication, selling, and reading of
prohibited books. Those works placed on
the Index were believed to endanger the
faith of Christians, and be damaging to
their moral and spiritual life. The works of
Copernicus, for example, were placed on
the Index and held to be contrary to the
traditional idea that the earth lay at the
center of the universe. Other authors
whose works were condemned by the In-
dex were Giordano Bruno, Desiderius Er-
asmus, Francis Bacon, John Calvin, Fran-
cois Rabelais, Martin Luther, and Niccolo
Machiavelli. Authors could submit their
works to the church for review, and were
granted an opportunity to correct those
passages that the authorities found to be
in error. Anyone found publishing, reading
or possessing the books on the Index were
subject to excommunication, which meant
separation from the church and a ban on
attending the Mass.

In 1571 the church organized the Sa-
cred Congregation of the Index, which
dealt with books accused of errors, and

published a list of corrections, theIndex

Expurgatorius, for books that were not

deemed worthy of a complete ban. Some

books were classified as forbidden, with-

out any hope of being admitted by the

church, while others were labeled “forbid-

den if not corrected” according to the list

created by the Sacred Congregation.

The latest edition of the Index was

published in 1948, and the church ended

the authority of the list in 1966. The mod-

ern Curia, the administration of the Pa-

pacy, still includes an important depart-

ment, known as the Congregation for the

Doctrine of the Faith, meant to uphold

sound moral doctrine and suppress hereti-

cal or immoral teachings among its mem-

bers.

SEEALSO: Inquisition; Reformation, Catho-

lic

Inquisition .......................................

Although there were many violent contro-

versies over Christian doctrine, until the

Middle Ages, the church had no organized

courts to try religious crimes, such as im-

piety, blasphemy, and heresy. In the thir-

teenth century, however, the rise of the

new sect of Cathars seemed to pose a mor-

tal danger to the organized church. The

Cathars defied the authority of the pope

and the entire Catholic church hierarchy,

and were gaining followers throughout

southern France. The church responded

by establishing its first courts of Inquisi-

tion to try and then punish its opponents

and those who strayed by preaching false