Obsolete institutions of the Roman Catholic Church, like old sacristans, do not die; they merely fade away. The latest such anachronism to drift into disuse is the Index of Prohibited Books —some 6,000 immoral or heretical works that Catholics have been forbidden to read under pain of sin. Last week Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviana, whose Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is responsible for deciding which books to condemn, announced that the Index would never again be updated or reprinted, and will henceforth serve merely "as a historic document."
Matter of Conscience. The Index is a product of the Council...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
