17th-Century Papal Inquisition

Timeline

1. c. 1641–1645Rome · RomeInquisition censors reviewed theological and philosophical works, listing heretical or dangerous statements in the Index of Forbidden Books; an imprimatur was required before publication, forming a network of knowledge gatekeeping across the Catholic world of Europe.
2. 1642–1647Rome · RomeAfter his 1633 trial Galileo remained under house arrest, and his works and Copernican doctrine continued to be monitored by the Inquisition; as Europe's scientific revolution advanced in the 1640s, the papacy maintained its ban on heliocentric formulations, reflecting tension between religious authority and natural philosophy.
3. c. 1645–1650Spain and the Italian states · ItalyThe Roman Inquisition guided local inquisitorial procedures in Spain, Portugal, and the Italian states through letters and legates, trying cases involving Moriscos, Jewish converts, and heretical theology, maintaining the boundaries of the Catholic community through religious penalties and penitential atonement.