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Rome Publishes the Index of Forbidden Books

The Roman Inquisition tries to keep Protestant ideas out of Catholic hands by banning the books that carry them

On the timeline · around 1559 · Counter-Reformation and Religious WarCounter-Reformation and Religious WarRome Publishes the Index of Forbidden Books154015451550155515601565157015751580

Quick facts

Issued by
Sacred Congregation of the Roman Inquisition, under Pope Paul IV
First edition
1559
In force until
1966

What happened

The Sacred Congregation of the Roman Inquisition, under Pope Paul IV, issued the first Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1559, a list of more than a thousand banned titles and authors divided into categories: writers whose entire output was forbidden, individual condemned books, and anonymous forbidden works. The Index explicitly named the movement's founders, stating that the books of heresiarchs such as Luther and Zwingli were absolutely forbidden. Its stated purpose was to stop the spread of heresy by preventing ordinary Catholics from reading, or even hearing read aloud, any work the Church had not expressly approved. The Council of Trent later revised the Index and it was ratified again in 1564.

Why it matters

The Index formalized the Catholic Church's use of centralized censorship as a Counter-Reformation weapon, extending well beyond theology into philosophy and science over the following centuries. It remained in force, in revised forms, until 1966, making it one of the longest-running official censorship systems in European history.

How we know

The Index itself survives as an official published Church document, reissued and revised across four centuries; the World History Encyclopedia's article quotes the Index's own decrees naming specific reformers as banned authors.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Protestant Reformation30 events · How a Wittenberg monk's protest over indulgences split Western Christianity and set off a century of religious warView all →
Rome Publishes the Index of Forbidden Books · The Protestant Reformation · SourcedStory