Imprimatur - Definition

Imprimatur is an official approval from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church stating that a literary or similar work is totally free from error in all matters of faith and doctrine and hence acceptable reading for faithful Catholics.

The presence of the imprimatur was at one time a matter of the greatest concern to many Catholics; today it usually is of concern only to the most conservative ones. It is usually represented on a page at or near the beginning of the work with a cross followed by the Latin words nihil obstat, meaning "nothing of error", and the name and title of the church censor or other ecclesiatical authority finding this to be the case. (Nihil obstat is a separate distinction granted by a Roman Catholic censor; imprimatur can be granted by any bishop. While the imprimatur certifies there is no moral or doctrinal error, the nihil obstat is an express permission from the censor for the text to be printed.)It is of the greatest importance, of course, in works directly addressing Catholic theology and doctrine, and was introduced as a measure to reduce exposure, particularly of the laity, to heresy.

The term has been broaded to include "official" approval by whatever authorities are perteinent to the field in question, hence a poltical work might be said to have the "imprimatur" of a certain politician or political party; this typically would be meant in a symbolic sense, although sometimes such works are directly endorsed in a manner similar to the medieval Church process with a replica signature of endorsement or something similar. The most frequent modern usage of the term is probably digital imprimatur.