Roman Catholics: End of the imprimatur

One way that the Roman Catholic Church has traditionally tried to prevent the spread of error and heresy is by the use of the imprimatur. According to canon law, any book by a Catholic layman or cleric dealing with faith or morals must be cleared by a diocesan censor and approved for publication by a bishop, normally shown by the Latin word imprimatur — meaning "Let it be printed." In the postconciliar church, any kind of censorship seems anachronistic, and there is a wide spread feeling among publishers and theologians that the...

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