Article — Vermeersch, On Forbidden Books
Article 3
Likewise prohibited are books of non-Catholics which expressly treat religion, unless it is established that nothing is contained in them against the Catholic faith.
What non-Catholics are
67. 1. Non-Catholics, taken closely - as if deprived only of the Catholic faith - seem to us to be those who, outside the Catholic Church, contend that they profess true Christianity. They are therefore only baptized persons who, through heresy or schism, are reputed plainly alien from Catholic communion. For the word non-Catholic is opposed not so much to the Christian genus as to the Catholic species. And when the word must receive a broader use, the Pontiff himself indicates this by a word, as he did, for example, in articles 5 and 8, where he treats of non-Catholics of any kind whatever. Besides, they are worthy of special mention both because the Christian truths retained by them create a greater danger that the faithful be deceived and seduced by the honorable appearance of their works, and because they give a greater hope that sometimes certain arguments, even religious ones, for example concerning God, concerning the divinity of Christ, may be treated in a way that can also benefit Catholics. Therefore the Legislator wisely establishes a presumption against their books which expressly treat religion, while at the same time conceding that this same presumption can be destroyed by contrary proof.
Pennacchi,1 Génicot,2 Péries,3 and Ciolli4 are with us. Others, however, also include Mohammedans, Jews, unbelievers.5
Therefore, in our opinion, books on religion written by an unbeliever or by a rationalist who was formerly Catholic are not governed by this article, nor are they prohibited unless they defend heresy or schism, or overturn the foundations of religion.
Expressly
2. Which expressly, so that religion is, by design, the subject matter, not indeed necessarily of the whole book, but at least of a notable part, for example of one chapter.
On religion
3. On Religion, that is, on sacred matter, on natural or positive religion, on Sacred Scripture, dogmatic and moral theology, liturgy, canon law, ecclesiastical history; on moral philosophy itself, insofar as it embraces duties toward God or religious society, or by its principles seems to attack the dogmas themselves. Suarez;6 Lugo;7 St. Alphonsus;8 Arndt;9 Piat.10
They treat
They treat. To treat, according to Lugo, loc. cit., is not to say one's meaning incidentally, but to defend something, to prove it, to solve the contrary.
How far they are reproved
5. Unless it is established. When they expressly treat religion, they are prohibited from the presumption of an evil character, until it is morally established, for example by the testimony of a trustworthy man, that nothing is contained in them against the Catholic faith. Nothing can be taken morally. Therefore understand: nothing which is of any moment.
What if the mind is not hostile
But what if nothing is said formally, or from a hostile intention, against the faith, yet some things are put forward which are materially opposed to it? Objective opposition seems entirely sufficient. Wernz, n. 111, note 56.
NB. What if Catholic notes have been added to the book of a heretic, or the contrary
NB. Certain Catholic notes added below do not prevent the book from being that of a non-Catholic; nor do certain notes added by a heretic to the book of a Catholic man cause it now no longer to be judged a book of a Catholic writer.11 But if the scholia are so great that the book is judged rather to consist of these, it will receive its denomination from the author of the scholia.
1 N. 41.
2 Op. cit., I, 52, 3.
3 Op. cit., p. 70.
4 Op. cit., n. 15.
5 So Cardinal Gennari on this article, except that he does not here include schismatics; Hollweck, Das kirchliche Bücherverbot, p. 31; Planchard, Revue Théologique Française, loc. cit., n. 23; and Wernz, loc. cit., n. 111, note 55. The use of this probable doctrine will be this: that you extend the faculty positively made by this article to books of unbelievers which treat a religious subject in such a way that they contain nothing notable against the Catholic faith; but the other opinion gives the faculty of reading books of unbelievers who treat of their own religion and commend it, so long as they do not defend heresies or overturn the foundations of religion.
6 De Fide, disp. 20, n. 16.
7 De Fide, disp. 21, n. 51.
8 Book 7, n. 283.
9 Op. cit., pp. 121-123.
10 Nouvelle Revue Théologique, vol. 30, pp. 55-56.
11 Cf. Laymann, Theologia moralis, book 2, treatise 1, chapter 15, n. 2; Piat, ad Van der Velden, p. 621. Arndt speaks more severely, op. cit., pp. 123-125, n. 103.