Holy Office

American  

noun

Roman Catholic Church.

1. a congregation founded in 1542 to succeed the suppressed Inquisition and entrusted with matters pertaining to faith and morals, as the judgment of heresy, the application of canonical punishment, and the examination of books and prohibition of those held dangerous to faith and morals.

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Holy Office British  

noun

1. RC Church a congregation established in 1542 as the final court of appeal in heresy trials; it now deals with matters of doctrine

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Etymology

Origin of Holy Office

First recorded in 1720–30

Example Sentences

They say they questioned Vanier repeatedly as soon as the first victims came forward, as well as what he knew about Philippe’s 1956 Holy Office condemnation, but that he lied to them.

From Seattle Times

From his powerful perch as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — once the Holy Office responsible for the Inquisition — the conservative cleric acted as an enforcer and as a traditionalist compass.

From New York Times

“Well, outside of the Holy Office.”

From New York Times

The new postnationalist Europe to which this political movement gave rise — a Europe of robust trade unions and generously subsidized orchestras — was the dream not only of the onetime imperial heir Otto von Hapsburg and Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, the longtime prefect of the Holy Office, but also of Goethe and Schiller and Beethoven, the fulfillment of the promise of centuries of European humanism.

From New York Times

Life became very difficult for these crypto-Jews, or secret Jews, as there developed within the Spanish Catholic Church an institution known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

From Washington Times