During the French Second Empire (1851-1870), and especially the first decade, censorship of the printed word was prevalent. After presenting the situation of censorship during the period and the terms under which the phenomenon must be understood in the French context, this chapter analyses the relationship between censure and censorship in the case of Dante’s Divine Comedy by comparing the translations of the three passages of the Inferno (taken from cantos VII and XIX), which attack the Church and the popes. These versions by Fiorentino, Brizeux, Ratisbonne, Saint-Mauris, Mesnard, Lamennais, Aroux and Mognis, published, reprinted or revised between 1851 and 1870, show that translators used different strategies to address Dante’s satire of the Church and of the popes. Due to the French tradition of bon goût and belles infidèles, censure prevails over censorship.