A Book Against Books-BY AWAKE! WRITER IN ITALY

WHY do many people feel prejudice against the Bible?  The answer in some countries may be related to the history of a human instrument designed to control "heresy'-the Index of Forbidden Books.  How could that be/

The Catholic Church welcomed the invention of printing with enthusiasm.  A few pope even extolled what was called by some clergy a "divine art."  Soon, though, the ecclesiastical hierarchy realized that printing was being used to spread ideas contrary to Catholicism.  Therefore, limitations were established in a number of European dioceses at the end of the 15th century.  The imprimatur (approval for printing) was introduced , and in 1515 the Fifth Lateran Council imparted directions to control printing. Transgressors could be excommunicated. Particularly  after the onset of the Reformation, however, this did not prevent the circulation of printed matter and books that the church considered dangerous to faith and morals.  Hence, toward the end of the 16th century, Vatican circles hoped "that there be no more printing for many years." 

To impede "the impetuous slimy food of infected books"-as one Italian Jesuit put it as recently as 1951-the church wanted a list that would be valid for all Catholics. In 1542 the Roman Inquisition was instituted.  Its first public act was apparently an edict against editorial freedom in the religious sphere.  When the former inquisitor-general Gian Pietro Carafa became Pope Paul IV in 1555, he immediately ordered a commission to compile a list of forbidden books. The first universal Index of Forbidden Books was thus printed in 1559. 

Next time: A Book Against Books -BY AWAKE! WRITER IN ITALY/What Kind of Books Forbidden?

From the Awake! magazine