Congregation of the Index

Beginning of the Congregation of the Index

A page from the Congregation of the Index's main script.

The Congregation of the Index was a group created by the Catholic Church and responsible for which books got published and which were censored. The Congregation was in charge of reading works submitted to them and distributing to the general public, if accepted, much like a publishing company. They had the uncontested power to make or break an author's work. The defining characteristic of a written work's acceptability was if the Congregation of the Index agreed or conflicted with the Catholic Church. Any conflicts with the Church's scripture would lead to a long road of edits for the author or full censorship from the Congregation.

Historical Events

The cover page of Galileo Galilei's "Dialogue."

The Congregation dates as far back to the Reformation, around the 1560's and potentially all the way up to the 1960's. At the time, the group was organized by the Church in order to control what information was circulated. Galileo Galilei's "Dialogue" was a prime example of a published work that did not support the Church's teachings as it communicated, with certainty that the Earth revolved around the Sun, or heliocentricity. Since instructors taught Scripture as preaching geocentricity (Sun revolves around Earth), the work called into question the authority of the Catholic Church. Afraid that they would lose some of their power, the Church created the Congregation of the Index in the hopes that they could stop other titles from being published and hence put the Church into a corner.

Relevance

Censorship continues today on a number of levels. From in the publishing company to book bans, written works continue to fall under the scrutiny of people who pretend that censoring a book will make the topic they fear or hate disappear. Books are to be read within context and with our brains turned on.