Otto Karrer e il Sant’Uffizio

Abstract

With the opening of the files for the period of the pontificate of Pius XII in March 2020, it is now possible to shed light on the background that prompted the Holy Office in 1937 not to index Karrer’s book Der Unsterblichkeitsglaube (1936), even though, according to Bishop Laurenz Vincenz of Chur, it was considered “ripe for the Index” in Rome. The situation was different in 1942, when Karrer’s book Gebet, Vorsehung, Wunder. Ein Gespräch was placed on the index of banned books immediately after its publication. The background to the Holy Office’s different approach is still largely unknown.

Keywords

• Censorship. Indexing. Jesuits. National socialism. Reform concerns