Index of Forbidden Books
As a highly conservative Cardinal at the Holy Office, Ottaviani was responsible for the placement of a number of books on the Index of Forbidden Books.
The Index was abolished by Pope Paul VI in 1966 following the end of the Second Vatican Council, and is no longer enforceable under canonical law. However, various Catholic figures, including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) have stated that it still holds some form of moral value, despite its being officially abolished.
Ottaviani's actions regarding the Index have been criticized in some cases, e.g. that of Faustina Kowalska, who was later declared a saint, and whose reported conversations with Jesus Christ are now quoted on the Vatican website.
Read more about this topic: Alfredo Ottaviani, Impacts and Influences
Famous quotes containing the words index, forbidden and/or books:
“Exile as a mode of genius no longer exists; in place of Joyce we have the fragments of work appearing in Index on Censorship.”
—Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923)
“Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
“Human contacts have been so highly valued in the past only because reading was not a common accomplishment.... The world, you must remember, is only just becoming literate. As reading becomes more and more habitual and widespread, an ever-increasing number of people will discover that books will give them all the pleasures of social life and none of its intolerable tedium.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)