Index Librorum Prohibitorum
mechanismThe Vatican & Religious Power
The Catholic Church responded to the printing press by creating an official list of banned books.
Who they are
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the Catholic list of forbidden books created by the Council of Trent.
What they do
The engine treats it as a tool for controlling the flow of information.
How it works
It was created as a banned-books list in direct response to Gutenberg's printing press breaking the Church's monopoly over information.
Why it matters
It shows an established power trying to reassert control over information when a new technology threatened to spread ideas beyond its reach.
The engine's record — word for word
Report #76. Catholic banned-books list created by Council of Trent. Information-flow control mechanism responding to Gutenberg printing-press disruption of Church information monopoly.
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