Questions regarding the Index of Forbidden Books

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Little_One0307

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Morning All,

Why was the Index of Forbidden books discontinued? Was it because of Vatican II, if not what was it?

And do you think that the Index of Forbidden books should be reinstated?

God bless.
 
Little_One0307 said:
Morning All,

Why was the Index of Forbidden books discontinued? Was it because of Vatican II, if not what was it?

And do you think that the Index of Forbidden books should be reinstated?

God bless.
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It was a period of Jansenism, where to approach God you would need to be as pure as an angel.

Besides, in Europe, there was a big fight against Protestantism. Besides, the poor people were analfabet, so it was useful that somebody would read the book and say: “Better not to read this”.

Times have changed. Nowadays, it makes no sense. cheers. 🙂
 
Little_One0307 said:
Morning All,

Why was the Index of Forbidden books discontinued? Was it because of Vatican II, if not what was it?

And do you think that the Index of Forbidden books should be reinstated?

God bless.
Click to expand...
Some books were placed on the index that should not have, such as St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy.

God Bless
 
I don’t think we need such an index because the church maintains ample sources that speak to any such issues.

Moreover, when the index did exist sites like CA didn’t exist which allow much faster discussion and dissemination of info on publications.

For example, recall if you will, the widespread rebuttal of Dan Brown’s books.
 
Insight said:
Some books were placed on the index that should not have, such as St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy.

God Bless
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Yeah I was suprised to see that one on the list. I see that someone posted the list for the books on another thread, this should make some interesting reading. God bless.
 
Church_Militant said:
I don’t think we need such an index because the church maintains ample sources that speak to any such issues.

Moreover, when the index did exist sites like CA didn’t exist which allow much faster discussion and dissemination of info on publications.

For example, recall if you will, the widespread rebuttal of Dan Brown’s books.
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That’s true, I guess it has outlived its purpose, though I think if it was reinstated then someone would be having a lot of work to do, considering all those books out there.
 
supertubos said:
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It was a period of Jansenism, where to approach God you would need to be as pure as an angel.

Besides, in Europe, there was a big fight against Protestantism. Besides, the poor people were analfabet, so it was useful that somebody would read the book and say: “Better not to read this”.

Times have changed. Nowadays, it makes no sense. cheers. 🙂
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Hmmmmm… And the point is???
 
Divine Mercy was being circulated in Italy in a bad translation which was also pretty darned heretical. That’s what got it on the Index, and that was part of what stalled the cause for St. Faustina. Before he became pope, Bl. JPII spoke up for the book and asked that a new, good translation be reexamined. It was, and proved not to be heretical after all. It turned out to be a stroke of Providence, because people were more interested than before.
 
Mintaka said:
Divine Mercy was being circulated in Italy in a bad translation which was also pretty darned heretical. That’s what got it on the Index, and that was part of what stalled the cause for St. Faustina. Before he became pope, Bl. JPII spoke up for the book and asked that a new, good translation be reexamined. It was, and proved not to be heretical after all. It turned out to be a stroke of Providence, because people were more interested than before.
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Ahhh yes thank God that Blessed JPII spoke up for the book. I cannot imagaine where the Church would be wihtout the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I still as have yet to read her book by the way. I got so much reading to do and spend time on the forum.

God bless.
 
As I look at some of the publications that were on the Index I can think of a few that would make the list today: the various reports from sexual abuse investigations for starters. Why? Because their content could cause loss of faith in many people.

Many of the texts seem to be doctoral theses, studies of topics the Church probably felt the average Catholic could not handle without possibly losing faith. Some are bibilical studies texts books that were used in French seminaries according to the list. Not considered appropriate for the average unschooled Catholic?

Not surprising to find most, if not all, of Voltaire’s works but it always surprises me that some of the books that were “indexed” are considered classics and some are books that I love: Les Misérables, Notre Dame de Paris, LaFontaine’s Fables, Madame Bovary, Blaise Pascal’s “Pensées”.
 
Little_One0307 said:
Morning All,

Why was the Index of Forbidden books discontinued? Was it because of Vatican II, if not what was it?

And do you think that the Index of Forbidden books should be reinstated?

God bless.
Click to expand...
From my experience, the Index was a list of reviewed publications which contained dangers to Catholic faith and morals. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a good example of those times.
As I recall–University faculty and students had a blanket permission to read anything on the Index. One of my ancient professors went through the motions involved with the Index.

In practical terms, it has been suggested that modern pornographic material had taken over the Index. It became impossible to keep up with fast growing porn.
 
supertubos said:
And the point is that it makes no sense to have the Church forbidding books nowadays. Cheers.🤷
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Ahh thanks for clarifying. I kinda figured that, but wanted to see if I was right in seeing where you were coming from.

I do agree, it just made an interesting question.

God bless.
 
Phemie said:
As I look at some of the publications that were on the Index I can think of a few that would make the list today: the various reports from sexual abuse investigations for starters. Why? Because their content could cause loss of faith in many people.

Many of the texts seem to be doctoral theses, studies of topics the Church probably felt the average Catholic could not handle without possibly losing faith. Some are bibilical studies texts books that were used in French seminaries according to the list. Not considered appropriate for the average unschooled Catholic?

Not surprising to find most, if not all, of Voltaire’s works but it always surprises me that some of the books that were “indexed” are considered classics and some are books that I love: Les Misérables, Notre Dame de Paris, LaFontaine’s Fables, Madame Bovary, Blaise Pascal’s “Pensées”.
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Phemie,

I had wondered why some of the classics as you said made the List. I actually loved Notre Dame of Paris. I guess that one made the List becuase it did not paint a pretty picture of the Church in it, though the author if I remember aright did not have anything against the Church, it just made a villianous character out of an Archdeacon who in the end got his just desserts. *

I am actually reading Blaise Pascals’s Pensees right now. And so far have not come across anything questionable, of course I am not that far into the book.

God bless.*
 
grannymh said:
From my experience, the Index was a list of reviewed publications which contained dangers to Catholic faith and morals. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a good example of those times.
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That one doesn’t appear on the 1948 list.
 
Phemie said:
That one doesn’t appear on the 1948 list.
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Thanks.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover Index position must be an urban myth. It sure was talked about when I was in school.:o As I posted, my ancient professor went through the motions. He did not present an actual list.

My comment about too much porn comes from an old Google search of the Index. I did not keep a citation because obviously, the literature previous and during the early sexual revolution was very large.
 
grannymh said:
Thanks.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover Index position must be an urban myth. It sure was talked about when I was in school.:o As I posted, my ancient professor went through the motions. He did not present an actual list.

My comment about too much porn comes from an old Google search of the Index. I did not keep a citation because obviously, the literature previous and during the early sexual revolution was very large.
Click to expand...
Lady Chatterley’s Lover may have been on a prior list (the 1948 one was the 20th edition) but it may have never made the list simply because it was banned in most countries.

The unexpurgated version didn’t get openly published in England until 1960 and then triggered an obscenity trial which the publisher won.

Around the same time it was allowed for publication in Canada after a ‘panel of experts’ reviewed it and said it didn’t meet the Criminal Code definition of ‘obscene’.

It was banned in the US until 1959 and in Australia they couldn’t even publish the transcript of the British trial, that was banned along with the book itself. It’s still banned in certain bookstores in Australia.

In India & Japan publishers were convicted of obscenity the cases taking many years to wind their way through the courts, India from 1964-68 and Japan from 1951-57
 
snape. snape. severus snape. snape. snape. severus snape DUMBLEDORE snape. snape. severus snape DUMBLEDORE.
 
No, it looks as though each publication is listed in the language in which it was published. Lots of Italian, some French, some Dutch, etc.
 
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