Page:The Roman index of forbidden books.djvu/21

Rh Index, controlled by the Spanish Inquisition.

As we have already mentioned, the Constitution "Officiorum ac munerum" establishes the general laws by which books are forbidden. As will be seen in our Summary, these laws deal with classes of books. The only one named expressly is the Bible. But all the books clearly contained in these classes are as strictly condemned as those listed singly in the second part of the Index, sometimes even more strictly.

Pope Leo changed the Tridentine rules "without altering their nature." It is, indeed, difficult to see how the nature of these regulations could have been changed. They simply express the point of view from which the Church must look upon objectionable publications. While opposing and condemning spoken error, the Church surely cannot allow full sway to the printed. In regard to the second part, or Index proper, many wrong notions are current.