Censor's stamp: Nihil Obstat ("nothing stands in the way")

Bishop's stamp: Imprimatur ("let it be printed")

The Roman Catholic Church, which assumes the responsibility of authority by Christ as the conduit for truth on this earth, declares that it has the obligation to preserve Christians from deviations from the truth and to to guarantee them the "objective possibility of professing the true faith without error". This is stated in the Catechism (890) of the Catholic faith. Because of this, the Bishops carefully scrutinize books published on faith and scripture, and give them their approval if nothing therein is found to be contrary to the Faith (relevant Canon Law: "Title IV: The Means of Social Communication," ¶ 822-832)

The procedure works as follows:

When a book is brought to the Bishop, dealing with faith, morals, theology, liturgy, prayer, or editions of Sacred Scripture, etc., he will submit his manuscript to his diocese's Censor. If the Censor finds no problem with it, he will give it his stamp, which reads "Nihil Obstat," or "nothing stands in the way." He then sends it back to the Bishop for his review. If the Bishop finds nothing objectionable, he gives the book his "Imprimatur" which means, "let it be printed."

The Words was presented by Solidarity's publisher, Lucas Szymanski, to the Bishop of Poznan. Six months later, The Words was granted the Nihil Obstat by the Censor, and then the Imprimatur by the Bishop.



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