Index Librorum Expurgatorius
aka
The Great Book burning
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum (“List of Prohibited Books”) was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden to read them.[1]
There were attempts to ban heretical books before the sixteenth century, notably in the ninth-century Decretum Glasianum; the Index of Prohibited Books of 1560 banned thousands of book titles and blacklisted publications, including the works of Europe’s intellectual elites.[2][3][4] The 20th and final edition of the index appeared in 1948, and the Index was formally abolished on 14 June 1966 by Pope Paul VI.[5][6]
