Morals of the Church

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On the Prohibition and Censorship of Books
- Imprimatur
Preface to This Fourth Edition
Summary of Contents
Prooemium
Part One: General Notions
Part Two: Commentaries on the General Decrees
- Title I: On the Prohibition of Books
- Title II: On the Censure of Books
Part Three: Summary of the General Decrees; and a Brief Repetition Arranged in Logical Order
Part Four: Formulae and Catalogues
- Chapter I: Formulae
  - Article 1: Formulae of the Sacred Congregation of the Index
    I. Indults for Permitting the Reading of Prohibited Books
  - Article 2: Formulae of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide
    I. Indults for Permitting the Reading of Prohibited Books
    II. Faculties of Reading and Retaining Prohibited Books
- Chapter II: Catalogues
  - I. List of Writers Whose Works Are Marked by the General Clause, Together with the Day of the Decree
  - II. List of Works Proscribed by Special Decree After the Index of Leo XIII Was Published
Leo XIII, Constitution on the Prohibition and Censure of Books (Officiorum ac Munerum)
- Title I: On the Prohibition of Books
- Title II: On the Censure of Books
Benedict XIV, Constitution by Which the Method to Be Observed in the Examination and Proscription of Books Is Prescribed (Sollicita ac provida)
Bibliography
Alphabetical Index of Things
- A
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- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- O
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Part — Vermeersch, On Forbidden Books

Part Three: Summary of the General Decrees; and a Brief Repetition Arranged in Logical Order

On the Index today (ed.)

The Index of Forbidden Books ceased to bind as Ecclesiastical law in 1966, though the Church still teaches the duty it served: to avoid what is a proximate danger to faith or morals — a duty of the immutable natural law, as the authors here say themselves, and thus a duty which was not abolished with the list. The particular titles on the Index remain excellent points of reference for works one should not read, and provide a concrete instantiation of the aforementioned principle to safeguard morals.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, notification of 14 June 1966

Contents

I. Laws on the Prohibition of Books and Worksnn. 128–131
II. Laws on Previous Censurenn. 132–133
III. On the Sanctions of These Laws, and the Faculty of Reading and Retaining Prohibited Works

Under the patronage of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church

Morals of the Church — a library of classic manuals of Catholic moral theology in English.

Texts presented for study and reference. In whatever touches your own conscience, seek out a confessor and the spiritual guidance of a priest — as the manuals themselves counsel: “If a person has time to resolve his hesitation, he should not trust to common sense, but should consult moral theology, if he is competent to understand and apply it, or should have recourse to his confessor, if he is not a theologian” (McHugh–Callan, n. 656).

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