The power to or the act of censoring, as exercised through religious office or governmental agency, by examining literature, dramatic performances, public speeches, and other published or broadcast matter for the purpose of suppressing or deleting parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds. The most notable roster of excluded materials was the Catholic "Index of Prohibited Books" begun by Pope Leo X, which was discontinued in 1966 ; but the void has been more than filled by secular arbiters from university panels and library committees, where judgements are made without benefit of popular law or substantive ethics. Discrimination based upon "political correctness" is only the latest spasm of doctrinaire scrutiny by the Orwellian "thought police", since everything from children's books and religious texts to seditious and salacious materials have been banned in the "Land of the Free", with international prohibitions varying upon revised policies. The media industry guidelines regulating the "sex and violence" ratings are a form of voluntary censorship which, like official suppression , tends to stimulate prurient interest and increase profitability. Derived from the Roman official charged with the enforcement of public manners and morals, being required "to give one's opinion, recommendation, or assessment". See imprimatur, propaganda, disinformation, samizdat, trigger term, advertising, PSA, recension, expurgate, expose, curiosa, pornography, copyright, freedom of speech, freedom of information, intellectual freedom, euphemism, intelligentsia.