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As the Encyclical reminds us, the Apostles burned books in 1c.

Pope Gregory ought to have been ashamed of himself for alleging, for his own autocratic purposes, that the Holy Apostles were guilty of such behavior!

The reference given in the encyclical is to Acts Chapter 19. Here St. Luke tells us that some pagans who had practiced sorcery repented of it, and burned their scrolls as a witness when they converted to Christ. Nowhere does he claim that the Apostles burned any books, and certainly not any books that belonged to others.

In fact, St. Paul (the Apostle involved in Acts 19) made it very clear in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 that it was not his business to judge those outside the Church.

We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth.

Oh good heavens! You mean that some people actually had this silly notion that it was an abuse of power to suppress ideas with the force of arms, and that bad words could be overcome by good ones? Clearly they must be stopped!

Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the priesthood. It is certain that that concord which always was favorable and beneficial for the sacred and the civil order is feared by the shameless lovers of liberty.

Or, one might get the impression that those who call for censorship are afraid that their own views might not hold up very well when exposed to criticism; and that those who wish to yoke themselves to the world by having the State sponsor the Church lack confidence in Christ's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against her.

Anyway, thanks for the new tagline, Gregory.

The Holy Scripture established the principle that books containing false doctrine are to be burned. Is your objection to the idea of censorship or to the ownership rights? The Encyclical does not seem to address the ownership issue at all. The scripture clearly indicates that the books were the property of the penitents; however, the high cost of the books is mentioned to underscore the significance of the act:

18 And many of them that believed, came confessing and declaring their deeds. 19 And many of them who had followed curious arts, brought together their books, and burnt them before all; and counting the price of them, they found the money to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So mightily grew the word of God, and was confirmed. (Acts 19)

Pope Leo XIII says

the apostles themselves burned a large number of books

It is true that the burning of the books was voluntary. However, are you prepared to say that the apostles had nothing to do with the burning? It is by their witness that the sorcerers renounced their craft (Acts 19:15). The account of the book burning reads like a story or triumph -- not of oppression, but of conversion.