Censorship in Portugal

Censorship has been a fundamental element of Portuguese national culture throughout the country's history. From its earliest history Portugal was subject to laws limiting freedom of expression. This was mainly due to the influence of the Church since the time of Ferdinand I, who requested that Pope Gregory XI institute episcopal censorship. Later, the censorship would also apply to the publication of other written works. Portuguese citizens still remember the Estado Novo's censorship policy, institutionalizing strict control over the media, resorting to measures used previously against newspapers and systematic sequestering of books. In fact, every political regime was very careful with the legislation related to the area of press freedom—in most cases restricting it. In the five centuries of the history of Portuguese press, four were marked by censorship.

Portuguese history was marked by many forms of intellectual persecution. Those who dared to freely express thoughts that were contrary to official discourse were frequently punished with prison or public death.

The first books known with some certainty to have been censored by the Portuguese monarchy were the works of Jan Hus and John Wycliff, which were banned, confiscated and ordered to be burned on August 18, 1451, by Afonso V.

Later, there is mention of suppression by Manuel I of the distribution of Lutheran texts, which earned him a commendation from Pope Leo X on August 20, 1521.

With the start of the Inquisition in Portugal following the papal bull Cum ad nihil magis of May 23, 1536, teaching Judaism to "New Christians", and the use of vernacular translations of the Bible were prohibited. Three types of censorship thus became evident: ecclesiastical, royal, and ordinary.

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