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Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Placed on Index

When: 1616
Where: Unknown
Episodes: 1

In March 1616, the Sacred Congregation of the Index placed Copernicus' De revolutionibus on the Index of Forbidden Books, suspending it until corrected due to its heliocentric claims.

Episodes

March 5, 1616 · UnknownPlacement on the Index
The Sacred Congregation of the Index issued a decree suspending Copernicus' De revolutionibus until corrected.

Background and detail

The 1616 Decree. A decree dated March 5, 1616, specifically targeted Copernicus' work and Diego de Zúñiga's commentary. The Congregation cited the 'false Pythagorean doctrine' that the earth moves and the sun is motionless as contrary to Holy Scripture.

People involved

Nicolaus Copernicus · Author of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
Sacred Congregation of the Index · Issuing body of the decree
Diego de Zúñiga · Author of In Job, also indexed

Sources

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-25
Index Librorum Prohibitorum Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-19

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.