The most infamous list of banned books was that maintained by the Roman Catholic Church from 1557-1966. Learn more about this here. The Catholic Church may no longer maintain the index but it still bans writers. Here you will find a discussion about some of the writers who have been banned in the latter part of the twentieth century. Others that come to mind who are not named in this article, are Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hans Kung, and Leonardo Boff.The church has always exercised authority in relation to the protection of sound doctrine and the eradication of heresy. It is, arguably, a role extended to the Apostles and continued with authority within the Body of Christ. One does wonder at times. The church, irrespective of denomination, is not good at selecting what is timeless and true. It frequently rails and rants against books, teachings, thoughts, ideas which later generations have to back-pedal on. Perhaps, for instance, wider access to the writings of de Chardin might have given the church a more authoritative role in what was to become a burgeoning environmental movement. Instead, the leadership of the movement came from science and the world-wide church had to play catch up.
