Catholic Myth #4: Catholics Aren’t Allowed to Read the Bible
Catholic, Misconceptions July 31st, 2004
It’s a common myth that Catholics aren’t supposed to read the Bible or that the Church actively works to keep Bibles out of the hands of the laity. This myth, of course, is false. Here is what the catechism says about the reading of Scripture:
“And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigour, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life.” Hence “access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful” (#131)
“Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture” (#132)
“The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful… to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (#133)”
So, the Catholic Church not only doesn’t prohibit her members from reading the Bible, but she forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful to read the Bible! Plus, unlike many Protestant Churches, a large amount of Scripture is read during the Sunday mass. Each service has an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a reading from an epistle, and a section of a Gospel. This works out to about 2-4 chapters from the Bible each week. Also, the whole liturgy of the mass is filled with references to the Scriptures.
I must add one thing, though. I thought of calling this post: “Catholics Don’t Read the Bible.” However, that would not be much of a myth, which is quite unfortunate. Statistically, 59% of Protestants read their Bibles weekly (86% of Evangelicals) vs. only 28% of Catholics. Given the pronouncement in the catechism, that number (even outside the weekly worship) should be 100%.
Photo of the Douay Rheims Bible from: FSSP
April 2nd, 2005 at 7:56 am
There was a period in history five hundred years ago or more when the church did prohibit reading and owning bibles. They were chained down in the church and they were in latin so most couldn’t read it anyway. Read the history of the church, it is rather gruesome at times.
April 8th, 2005 at 7:16 pm
If it’s true that Bibles were chained down, is that necessarily proof that people weren’t supposed to read them? Pens are chained down at the bank to keep people from taking them, but you’re allowed to use them. Remeber, 500 years ago books were very expensive and only the wealthy could afford them usually, and most of the population couldn’t read no matter what language they were in. It seems to me that if people weren’t supposed to read the Bible at all, it wouldn’t be made available even on a chain. Latin is the official language of the Catholic church out of tradition, not to keep people from understanding - Latin is taught in many Catholic schools, not that you need to know it these days to be a Catholic. It might be a dead language now, but when the Church was started it was the common language of the Roman Empire. The original manuscripts that became the Bible were not in Latin were they, weren’t they in Greek and Hebrew? If they didn’t want people to read it, why was it translated into Latin?
Just some thoughts to ponder. Not that I’m saying the history of the Catholic church is all good - it’s not. No institution with human beings in it has a totally clean record. But quite a few people believe Catholics aren’t allowed to read the Bible now, in the present day. They aren’t thinking of 500 years ago.
April 8th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
We need to remember that in the past it took Catholic monks 10 to 20 years to copy a Bible in its entirety, so we should be very grateful for their years of hard work and devotion. Not only were Bibles very expensive in the past, but many people were illiterate, so they needed to hear the word of God preached. 1 Peter 1:25 …”and this is the word which was preached to you.”
April 9th, 2005 at 9:21 am
Les, you’re right, most Christians in the Western world until the invention of moveable type got what religious instruction they had in ways other than reading the written word. Hearing it, plus through the visual arts. Gothic cathedrals, for example, were jam-packed with carvings to illustrate the concepts.
And think of how much time it took to make the pieces of type, whether out of wood or metal, and set it, print it, and bind the pages. The Bible is a big book! A lot less time than writing it out by hand, but still an awesome task compared to how we do it now. A new translation into another language must have been a huge undertaking compared to now.
April 9th, 2005 at 10:33 am
Carolyn and Les,
You both make some great excellent points. I’m glad you’ve added this to the blog because my original post was concerned with people who think the Catholic Church suppresses the Bible today. Your posts provide good historical context and show why the Church has never stopped people from reading the Bible. Thanks!
April 19th, 2006 at 9:59 am
I’ve linked to this commentary in my blog entry today.
Enjoying your entries.
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May 4th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
It is true, within living memory, that Catholics were discouraged from reading the bible. My Mother, who would be in her 90’s if she were still alive, remembered being told by a parish priest in Ireland that the laity should not read the bible on their own “because they would not understand it”. Many people interpret things in the bible differently and I suppose the clergy worried the ordinary person in the street would not have sufficient education to interpret things correctly. I mentioned this recently to an elderly Irish nun and she remembered the same view. She told me sadly, “Yes, we nearly lost the Word.”
May 17th, 2006 at 1:50 am
I personally have been taught to read the Bible. The Catholic church does, as you have said, acknowledge the Holy Bible as the Word of God, and as we all know, God’s word is law. The church I attend, St. Vincet De Paul, certainly does not discourage the reading of the bible. I am not sure who came up with this particular myth, but it is what it is: a myth.
May 19th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
You are not in your 90’s, Adam. Nor am I. Like you, I was not discouraged from reading the Bible. I was just telling you my Mother’s experience and that of other people her age. Lay Catholics in Ireland, within living memory, were discouraged from reading the Bible. This is a fact. They were discouraged, not forbidden. People no doubt confused the two words. This is how the myth arose. Thank God things are now different.
May 20th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I enjoyed reading your posts. That’s what Catholics are known for. We are known for our exceptional logic and ways of explaining ourselves. People confine themselves to their personal interpretation of the bible leading them to confusion. Some of them are even brainwashed that we, Catholics, are against the Bible…
I cannot blame the Church if they ‘discouraged’ the reading of the bible. Look at the society nowadays, there are alot of religious sects that arose from their personal interpretation of the bible.
May 25th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
Ian, thank you for your message. I agree with you totally about the trouble and dissention caused by personal interpretation of the Bible. In the first post I said that Irish Catholics in the old days were discouraged from reading the Bible “on their own”. This is the key point, it was thought they needed guidance. I know I still do.
God Bless.