Every era has lived and understood its past in a perspective which was closer to its present aspirations, needs and beliefs. During the Renaissance the image that frequently appeared was that of “a dark middle ages”. The romanticism had its own image about middle ages as a time of minstrels and seraphic women. Objectively speaking, we are not interested only in the facts, but in their significance, too, and also in their consequences over a certain era. Medieval Christian Western society was dominated by religion. Only thinking about the acquisition of salvation, no matter by what means, could not be talking about freedom of conscience. After the 12th century, Europe has been crossed by a stream of ideas. For example, in Spain the Christians had gained from the Muslim culture, even if it entered into polemics with Christianity. Today, after two thousand years of history, killing people because of their ideas is something unacceptable.In the following, I propose an analysis of religious speech in a period in which the Inquisition as a well organized institution of the Western Church, acting both on the spoken and written religious message.The Inquisition acted on the books (as well as on some editions or translations of the Holy Scriptures). The index of banned books included provisions for both authors and their books, and for publishers and printers of such works. Some banned books could receive consent for publication, if they were corrected according to the indications provided by the specially accredited persons. Thus, the final works were be reviewed by a Commission of the Index. Each censored paper should be analysed by a specialist. If there were still doubts about the works, they were also analysed by other consultants of the Congregation.Medieval Catholicism has kept the human soul on the heights of spirituality and horror. Educating and concentrating human spiritual forces, it subordinated them to a centre which contained the entire culture.
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