Deprivation of freedom by the Church? Some consider it so. Others see it as similar to the attitude good parents take these days in blocking their children’s access to some Internet sites or inconvenient TV shows.
Newsroom (Oct 2, 2021 2:04 PM, Gaudium Press) In its two thousand year history, Holy Church has had to face no small storms to remain standing and to be able to freely proclaim the Faith in Christ throughout the whole earth.
Since the persecutions of the Roman Empire, there has never been a lack of physical struggles and material difficulties which have hindered the apostolate. The enemy, however, was not content with attacking her head-on, but has tried to “poison” her, or rather, to “anesthetize” her little by little, so that the flame of orthodoxy was gradually extinguished.
Aware of this evil, the Church – for whom discipline and rigidity well understood and applied were never an evil – consented to the condemnation of works and writings with heretical content or those spreading doctrines contrary to Christian morals and customs. This was the genesis of the famous Index.
What is the Index?
The so-called Index librorum prohibitorum[1] consisted of a list of authors, works or even passages of writings and translations (previously studied and sometimes submitted for correction and ratification) considered inconvenient and dangerous to the reading and appreciation of Catholics.
It was first published by Pope Paul IV (1555-1559), who collected and organized minor indexes made under Paul III by the Roman Inquisition,[2] an institution charged with discovering and suppressing heresies and censoring and proscribing books that seconded them in any way.[3]
Thus, the faithful who knowingly read or merely possessed books mentioned in this list would incur excommunication, and absolution would be granted only by the Supreme Pontiff,[4] as elucidated in the constitution Dominici gregis custodiae of Pius IV: “All the faithful are commanded that no one dare read or possess books contrary to what is prescribed in these rules or to the prohibition of this Index. If anyone reads or possesses books by heretics or writings by any author, condemned or forbidden by heresy or by suspicion of erroneous doctrine, he will immediately incur a sentence of excommunication.”[5]
In specific cases, the arrest and destruction of copies of the work was ordered, as well as an inquiry into the publication and editing, measures that were more or less in place until the last century.
Endless controversies
Notwithstanding its effectiveness, this innovation gave rise to no small amount of contention from its inception. In the initial impetus, several authors were condemned in all their writings, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, whose work – condemned in odium auctoris – was gradually removed from the Index.[6]
Critical spirits claimed that the Holy Church “meddled” in matters outside its jurisdiction; others, both closer and more perverse, said they believed it was ridiculous not to see both points of view on a question before debating it, so knowledge of such works was indispensable.
In their 1948 edition – with over 500 pages of forbidden works – for example, one finds illustrious names such as Pascal, La Fontaine, Kant, Alexandre Dumas, among many others… from treatises on theology to children’s literature, there was not a field of knowledge where a condemnatory censure did not fall.[7]
Objections such as the above were renewed for more than four hundred years, and the Church reiterated its prescriptions.
Suppression of the Index
During the pontificate of St. Pius X, numerous organs of the Vatican government, dicasteries and congregations were organized. The so-called Congregation of the Index and the Roman Inquisition were then integrated into that of the Holy Office.[8]
However, when the Council was over, Paul VI undertook the reform of the Holy Office, which was to be called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; among the duties of this new institution – listed in the Motu proprio Integrae Servandae – there was no mention of the Index, so it was out of use from that moment on. Thus, the condemnations inherent in it were suppressed: although it retained a little moral force, there was no censorship as before.[9]
Far from wishing to judge or disapprove of what happened in this rather controversial matter, we may wonder what the motives of this decision were.
Deprivation of freedom by the Church? Some consider it so. Others, on the contrary, see it as an attitude similar to that which good parents take in blocking their children’s access to inconvenient Internet sites or TV shows that could rob them of their innocence and tarnish their purity.
Due to the effects of the modernization of the world, the ease with which most men learn and accept immoral doctrines is truly astounding. In the wanderings of new ideas, what should the guide do but point out the truth and purge out the dangerous “verisimilitude”? Is it not the duty of the Teacher of the Peoples to protect her subjects from harmful teachings, which have caused so many to fall and spread error?
But it is obvious to us: the one that previously condemned, at a certain moment and for some mysterious reason, became silent.
And the door to the next step was then open.
By André Luiz Kleina
[1] Latin: Index of forbidden books.
[2] Founded on July 21, 1542 by the apostolic constitution Licet ab initio.
[3] Cf. PAUL VI. Motu Proprio Integrae Servandae. Dec. 7, 1965.
[4] Cf. PAREDES, Javier. Diccionario de los Papas y Concilios. Barcelona: Ariel, 1998, p. 327.
[5] Pius IV, Tridentine Rules [constitution Dominici gregis custodiae], 24 Mar. 1564 (DH 1861) DENZINGER, Heinrich; HÜNERMANN, Peter (ed.). Compendium of the symbols, definitions and statements of faith and morals. Trad. José Marino Luz; Johan Konings. São Paulo: Paulinas; Loyola, 2007.
[6] Cf. ROPS. The Church of the Renaissance and the Reformation: the Catholic reform. Trad. Emérico da Gama. São Paulo: Quadrante, 1999, p. 101.
[7] Cf. PII XII. Index librorum prohibitorum. Vaticanis: Polyglotis Vaticanis, 1948.
[8] Cf. ROPS. The Church of the Revolutions: A struggle for God. Trad. Henrique Ruas. São Paulo: Quadrante, 2006, p. 90.
[9] On the other hand, specific norms for publications and censorship of them were included in the ecclesiastic regulations.
The post The “INDEX”, a controversial issue appeared first on Gaudium Press.
