“The action of the Index is meant to be both preventive and repressive. Its preventive action is exercised through the diocesan censor, that is, there is in every well constituted diocese an officer known as the _censor deputatus_, to whom the bishop can hand over, before they come into print, all works written by Catholics which deal with religion or morals. This officer gives his opinion in writing to the bishop, who thereby issues an _imprimatur_ (permission) or a _nihil obstat_ (no reason to the contrary). There is, moreover, at Rome a similar censorship on a somewhat wider scale which is to-day, as through the past centuries, exercised through the master of the sacred palace. This official continues to be a Dominican friar. The greater part of the works submitted to this censor are of course books printed in the city of Rome or at least within the territory of the old papal States. “As far as the repressive action of the Index is concerned, this is performed by the Congregation itself. I may recall, however, that at the Council of the Vatican, many bishops from France, Germany, and Italy asked that the ‘Ten Rules of the Index’ be revised. They asserted that the changed social and literary conditions in these countries made it impossible to continue to enforce these ‘Rules’ with the former strictness. The further request was made public that books should no longer be censured (condemned) at Rome until the local episcopal authorities had been heard in the matter so that the author might have his errors pointed out, and that, if he were writing in good faith, he might thus be afforded an opportunity of recalling his erroneous statements and thus save himself from the disgrace that from a Catholic point of view would of necessity have come upon him through the condemnation of his book. The text of this document may be found in the _Acta Sacrorum Conciliorum Recentiorum, Collectio Lacensis_, volume viii, 843–844. On pages 11, 79, and 780 will be found a petition of certain Catholic laymen for the abrogation of the Index.