Page:The Roman index of forbidden books.djvu/65

Rh is chiefly responsible before God. It is to be remarked, however, that Catholic librarians or servants do not violate this law, by keeping, handling or cataloguing forbidden books for their employer in the latter's house, or, for instance, in a public library.

Note 2. If a book or any particular issue of a forbidden periodical calls for a speedy public refutation, and if permission to peruse it cannot be waited for, any educated Catholic, who may be reasonably presumed to be competent to refute it by lecture or newspaper article, may read such book or periodical without special permission.

Note 3. In all other cases, each and every Catholic, be he priest or layman, professor or student, must first obtain permission. Neither piety, nor learning, nor position exempts one from this law. The permission is granted by bishops and their vicars general, who can also delegate this power to others. When asking for this permission the applicant should mention the book which he thinks he has a good reason to read.

Note 4. The bishop's approbation is commonly given in the Latin word Imprimatur, "it may be printed," or some similar expression, over the date and his own signature or that of his vicar general. The formula Nihil obstat, "there is no objection," is as a rule only the verdict of the censor deputatus, the priest who was commissioned by the bishop to examine the book.