Index Librorum Prohibitorum

The Index Librorum Prohibitorum ( "List of Prohibited Books ", also briefly index Romanus "Roman Index" called ) was a list of the Roman Inquisition, which listed the books for every Catholic, whose reading was considered a grave sin was in some of these books as ecclesiastical penalty excommunication provided.

For the first time the directory was published in 1559, his last official edition dated 1948 with supplements to 1962, and called last 6000 books. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was finally abolished after the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and 1966, respectively.

History

The beginnings of ecclesiastical prohibitions Books

As a result of the first Council of Nicaea, Emperor Constantine I in 325, the writings of Arius burn and put their property under penalty of death. The first purely ecclesiastical books prohibition goes back to the year 400 under the chairmanship of Theophilus of Alexandria was enacted, no one in Egypt could " read or possess " the writings of Origen. In the year 446 Pope Leo the Great who burned the writings of the Manichaeans. The first synod, ordered the burning of the damned of their texts, 681 was the third Council of Constantinople Opel.

Books bans until the introduction of the Roman Index

In the context of theological disputes and in the fight against heretics and dissenters, the popes repeatedly banned writings in the Middle Ages. These prohibitions were Enforced by the Church in cooperation with the secular rulers. For the continuous review and, where appropriate, the prohibition of books not the Pope and the Curia, but the universities were primarily responsible. In addition, there have always been independent censorship procedures and prohibitions of books by secular rulers or individual bishops.

A few examples:

• Peter Abelard was condemned in 1121 at the Council of Soissons to burn his book on the Holy Trinity. Twenty years later sentenced him Pope Innocent II, after the Council of Sens in 1141 to burn his writings.
• From Gregory IX. and other popes combustion of the Jewish Talmud was repeatedly arranged.
• On June 15, 1520 Martin Luther's writings were banned in the Bull Exsurge Domine. Luther's response was the public burning of the papal bull. On 12 June 1521, the burning of Martin Luther's writings in Rome took place at the same time Luther himself was in effigy, so in the absence of symbolic co-incinerated.

Introduction of the Roman Index

At the instigation of Cardinal Carafa, later Pope Paul IV appointed Paul III. 1542 with the Bull Licet ab initio six cardinals to General Inquisitors for the whole Church and created the Roman Inquisition, specifically the Congregation Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis. Reason for this centralization was the fact that it had come again and again to different views on the various universities which books should be banned and which are allowed. The Vatican could not exclude that spread at the Universities of Reformation ideas. And last but not least, the book advent had greatly expanded by the invention of the mechanical printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. The purpose of the Inquisition was generally primarily the struggle against Protestantism and the persecution of heretics. Since books and printed works were recognized as effective tools of the Reformation, the Inquisition built on a structured church censorship beings. The main agent of this censorship was the first time published Index Librorum 1559 Prohibitorum with its ongoing update.

Indexing method

The indexing process began with the display of a book that could either come from the Curia itself or from outside. Often enough already of the " Protestant " printing position for an initial suspicion. In a first stage, the secretary of the Congregation examined by two reviewers, whether any censorship case against the book should be initiated. The main method consisted of an in Catholic authors of two written opinions that were from a panel of experts, the Consultors, evaluated and discussed in a meeting. At the end of the meeting was a draft resolution, which was presented to the cardinal body of the Inquisition. The Cardinals again decided whether the book should be classified as dangerous or what the Pope took the final decision for inclusion in the index. At the end of the process there were three possible verdicts:

• Indexing and subsequent publication of the decision
• Non-indexing without publishing, that there had been an indexing method
• Solicitation of an another opinion.

The index was divided into three classes:

• The first class included the names of heretical writers
• The second class consisted of heretical works
• The third class consisted of forbidden writings that have been published without the author's name.

In addition to this index, there was the index librorum purgandorum, a list of objectionable sites to be cleaned writings.

Well-known examples of indexed works are:

• The book Mare Liberum ( The Free Sea) of the Dutch international law expert Hugo Grotius. This work, which appeared in 1609 criticized the bull Romanus Pontifex of 1455, which had granted the Portuguese monopoly of trade in the Asian region.
• Galileo's Dialogo di Galileo Galilei font sopra i due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo Tolemaico e Copernicano. ( Dialogue on the two main world systems, the Ptolemaic and the Copernican )

Often stood in opposition to lack of language skills of the evaluators to careful scrutiny. It was examined about dealing with people in a free Italian translation of 1816. Even the controversial discussion about Uncle Tom's Cabin was not based on the original edition. Both works were not indexed.

Latest Issue

The last official edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum published in 1948 with supplements to 1962.

The index contained last over 6000 titles that can not be reconciled with the faith or morals of the Church. As an example, these are the love stories of Honoré de Balzac, the chanson by Pierre -Jean de Beranger, seven works of René Descartes, two works of Denis Diderot ( including his Encyclopédie ), the love stories of Alexandre Dumas the Elder and of Alexandre Dumas the Younger. Furthermore, four works by Heinrich Heine, the Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, the complete works of Maurice Maeterlinck and almost all the works of Voltaire called. Lesser-known books can be found there, such as the incompatibility of the new papal faith decrees with the Bavarian State Constitution by Joseph Berchtold (1833-1894), 1871, The monastic associations in Bavaria and the task of imperial legislation of Henry Dürrschmidt, 1875, past and present catholic theological faculties of Sebastian Merkle, 1913, politics of faith by Ernst Michel ( 1889-1964 ), 1926 and Lord knowledge of wayside and road. Stories of weavers, carpenters and village boys of Joseph Wittig, 1922. Was one of the last arrived Jean -Paul Sartre on the index.

Abolition

The Index was established in 1965 and 1966 respectively under Pope Paul VI. abolished. On the one hand was a constantly updated continuation in the face of not more manageable flood of books, magazines and new media no longer practical. On the other hand, the second Vatican Council had expressed in the decree Inter mirifica in 1963 to the modern means of communication and argues for a constructive analysis of the new media.

The virtual abolition was performed with the Motu Proprio Integrae servandae of 7 December 1965 that the end of the second Vatican Council, the index simply no longer mentioned in his program of reform of the Holy Office. This virtual abolition but was initially little noticed by the public, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani explained to April 9, 1966 in a magazine interview, " that the index had no legal validity more ".

Formally, the index was abolished by decree of the Congregation of 14 June and 15 November 1966 which set the Index with effect from March 29, 1967 repealed and changes brought about due to the bans books penalties lifted.

The German edition of Albert Sleumer

A German version of the "Index Librorum prohibitorum " was 1906-1956 out of the Catholic theologian Albert Sleumer. Sleumer equipped his version with extensive introductions, before and during the Hitler period only anti-Jewish resentment and later the Nazi anti-Semitism in the fight against " dirt and filth " instrumentalized. Catholic - conservative and Nazi hatred of Jews found in this work and in contemporary magazines occasionally a common basis in denial ideologically free, supposedly "Jewish immigrant under " media and the desire for censorship.

Situation today

Today there is no official list of fonts that displeased the Catholic Church, and there are no prohibitions pronounced individual books.

The Motu Proprio Integrae servandae of 1965 mentioned among the tasks of the now passing the place of the Holy Office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, continue to receive advertisements of books and to review the works. However, it was spoken only by the " Disapprove " and not of "Ban ". The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as the competent body expresses itself now rarely to individual theological textbooks ( about 1975 to " Infallible? " By Hans Küng ). In addition, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications exists as a forum for media work.

The group Opus Dei running an internal index, which stands in the tradition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. This list contains about 1,000 works. In this index are, for example, works of Kant, Lessing, Rousseau, Marx and Hitler. In addition, books of contemporary writers such as The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code find. Some books are banned altogether, while others, such as certain gynecological literature will be read only by special permission, for example, for specific Trained allowed.

Research

Since 1992, records are published in the Archives of the Congregation of the Index with financial support from the German Research Foundation and with funding from the German Leibniz Prize led by the church historian Hubert Wolf. The edition is planned for 24 volumes, of which the first seven have been published in 2006. Since 1998, the archive is officially opened.