The Roman Catholic Church, in the centuries…

The Roman Catholic Church, in the centuries subsequent to the first formal index of forbidden books decreed in the late fifth century by Pope Gelasius I, has continued the condemnation of specific works.

At the Council of Trent, convened intermittently from 1545, the church has decreed that certain books may not be used for liturgical celebrations and, further, that no book on a religious subject may be published without the approval of ecclesiastical authorities.

The Congregation of the Inquisition produces in 1559 a long list of forbidden books, which Pope Paul IV accepts and publishes as an index, the first instance of the word itself being used to describe a listing of unacceptable literature.

Paul places the Talmud on the list of banned books, Index liborum prohibitorum.

He permits the printing of the Zohar, the book of medieval Jewish mysticism, while at the same time burning twelve thousand other books; because he is persuaded that the Zohar contains no anti-Christian statements.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo de Medici, unrelated to the Medicis of Florence, in 1559 succeeds Paul IV as Pope Pius IV.

Pius permits the printing of the Talmud, but allows censorship of passages that are deemed insulting to Christianity; therefore, the Talmud is not printed in Italy.

He agrees to allow the Jews to construct one building to house Rome's five synagogues, which satisfies the literal restrictions, but permits the Jews to establish Castilian, Catalan, Temple and New Congregations.

A man of violent antipathies, austerity, uncompromising reformism, and exalted concept of papal authority, Pius expels the Jews from the papal states, with the exception of Rome and ...