Page:The Roman index of forbidden books.djvu/67

Rh De Praeceptis, n. 690.) If on the other hand, a forbidden book is bound together with others, the entire volume is prohibited. If a book or volume is prohibited on account of one or another objectionable passage, the prohibition ceases as soon as these passages are destroyed or rendered illegible.

Note 6. It is not the intention of the Church that the prohibition be understood to include the reading of small sections torn or cut from prohibited works or the perusing of articles clipped from forbidden newspapers, even if it would be unlawful to read the same amount of matter while still in the book or paper. Nor is a sin against the law of the Church committed by listening to the reading of proscribed publications, or by witnessing a play which is the dramatization of a prohibited novel. Finally, productions printed or otherwise multiplied, which are meant to be private communications and can in no way be said to be "published," do not fall under the law of the Church.

Yet, as explained on pp. 18, etc., this does not do away with the duty of spiritual self-preservation; unless a person is excused by a reason which is in proportion to the personal danger, and unless scandal is excluded, such a listening or reading is always a fault and may become a serious violation of a natural law, which binds us independently of all Church legislation.

Note 7. In case a prohibited work consists