obstát

Obstat is a Latin term used in the Catholic Church to denote that a manuscript has been examined by a church censor and found to contain no doctrinal or moral objections. The most familiar form is nihil obstat, meaning “nothing obstructs,” which appears on the front matter of a text to indicate that the work passes its doctrinal review. The declaration is issued by a censor librorum (book censor), and it is typically followed by an imprimatur, a separate permit from a bishop or archbishop authorizing printing.

Purpose and scope: An obstat certifies that the work does not contain material contrary to Catholic faith or morals as assessed by the censor. It does not guarantee factual accuracy, historical reliability, or general literary quality, nor does it remove other forms of editorial or factual critique.

Historical context: The practice developed in Catholic Europe with the regulation of printing and publication. While most prominent in earlier centuries, the process of censorship and front-matter attestations persisted into modern times in some Catholic publishing houses, especially for religious education, devotional literature, and works dealing with faith and morals.

Usage and variants: In front matter, publishers may note nihil obstat and imprimatur in sequence. In some languages and translations, the shorter form obstat may be used to indicate the censor’s approval, though nihil obstat remains the clearer standard in English-language contexts.

Etymology: Obstat comes from Latin obstare, meaning “to obstruct” or “to oppose,” while nihil obstat literally translates to “nothing obstructs,” signifying that nothing obstructs publication from a doctrinal standpoint.