The Baptist Pillar © Brandon Bible Baptist Church 1992-Present www.baptistpillar.com
"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Forbidden Books
Francis S. Bottom, S. J.
From The Roman Index of Forbidden Books, 1920
Editor’s Note: Most think the Roman Church is changing but in reality she has not, she is still up to her dastardly deeds. She says she is changing but only on the surface, her rules remain the same.
According to the theologians, the reading of a forbidden book, or part of it, is a mortal sin. The selection of the books on which our souls feed is a matter of no small importance.
True, the Church is the kindest of mothers; but she is also the wisest. To direct the consciences of her children and to “to restrain them from the reading of bad books as from a deadly poison,” is the great object of her legislation.
Under the leadership of a mastermind like that of Leo XIII, the Roman authorities have labored for years in formulating the present ecclesiastical laws about books. These laws are the voice of the supreme pastor, the successor of St. Peter. Let us not spurn it like the heathen and the publican.
On page 55; Section 11 under, “A Summary of the Forbidden Books,” we read Rule 10:
Rule 10
The following classes of publications require the approbation of the bishop of the place where the work is to be published, or of some higher authority, which is to be printed in the beginning or at the end of the work and must be renewed for every new edition:
A) Books on theology, Church history, canon law, natural theology and ethics, and all editions of the Bible or parts of it in any language.
B) Books and pamphlets of devotion, religious instruction, and practical and mysterious piety.
C) Books, pamphlets and leaflets, printed or reproduced in any other way, which relate apparitions, visions, revelations, miracles, etc. not yet passed on by the Church; the plea that they are destined for private circulation does not exempt these publications.
D) Books, pamphlets and leaflets, which give catalogues of indulgences or new grants of them; also all writings which treat of subjects that are evidently of unusual importance for faith or morals at the time being.
Without ecclesiastical approbation the publications mentioned under b and c as well as all Bible editions in the vernacular are forbidden, though they may have been issued by the most pious and learned men.
The failure to obtain the approbation for the rest that fall under Rule 10 would be a sin for the author (and publisher), but the works themselves would not be forbidden, provided they are not, on account of their contents, proscribed by other rules.
An author who is a member of a religious order must add the permission of his “praelatus” to the approbation of the bishop.