why do we need the popes permission to have a bible as stated below?

Question

The Roman Church knows that if the people are able to read for themselves God’s word they
will discover that the Catholic traditions and doctrines are not just in addition to the Scriptures, they
violate the Scriptures. The Catholic Church has a long history of trying to keep God’s word from
the people. For example, at the Council of Terragona in 1234 A.D. the Roman Catholic Church
prohibited anyone from possessing any part of the Old or New Testaments in any of the Romance
languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Provencal, French, Rhaeto-Romance, Italian, Sardinian,
and Romanian). The council ruled that anyone owning a Bible was to turn it over to the local
Catholic bishop to be burned. In 1229 at the Council of Toulouse (Pope Gregory IX presiding), the
Catholic Church prohibited “laymen” from having the Holy Scriptures or translating them into the
“vulgar tongue” (common language of the country). In 1551 the Catholic Inquisitional Index of
Valentia forbade the Holy Bible

(common language of the country). In 1551 the Catholic Inquisitional Index of
Valentia forbade the Holy Bible to be translated into Spanish or any other “vernacular.” In 1559 the
Roman Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books) required permission
from the Catholic Church to read the Catholic version of the Bible; all Christian Bible versions were
simply prohibited. On September 8, 1713, Pope Clement XI issued his Dogmatic Constitution,
10
Unigenitus, which in part condemned as error the teaching that all people may read the Sacred
Scripture. On May 5, 1824 Pope Leo XII issued his encyclical Ubi Primum which exhorted the
bishops to remind their flocks not to read the Bible. On May 24, 1829 Pope Pius VIII issued the
encyclical Traditi Humilitati, which exhorted Catholics to check the spread of Bibles translated into
the vernacular, because those Bibles endangered the “sacred” teachings of the Catholic Church. On
May 8, 1844, Pope Gregory XVI issued his

On
May 8, 1844, Pope Gregory XVI issued his encyclical Inter Praecipuas in which he described Bible
societies as plotting against the Catholic faith by providing Bibles to the common people, whom he
referred to as “infidels.” On January 25, 1897 Pope Leo XIII issued his Apostolic Constitution
Officiorum ac Munerum which prohibited all versions of the Bible in the vernacular tongue. The
1918 Catholic Code of Cannon Law, Index of Prohibited Books, Cannon 1385, § 1 prohibited
publishing any edition of the Holy Scriptures without previous Catholic “ecclesiastical censorship.”
The 1983 Catholic Code of Cannon Law, Cannon 825, § 1 prohibits the publishing of the Sacred
Scriptures without the permission of the Apostolic See or the Conference of Bishops.

now I know this has changed as the people in the catholic church are encouraged to read their bibles...why the change from one extreme to the other....

the rulings by the popes listed above also included having a bible written in Latin unless you were a part of the church resposible for preaching

all of the above information came from the catholic churchs own documents that anyone can read for themselves..

another thing to remerbeer is that most of the bible was wrote in greek or hebrew not latin..It was translated later into latin

Answer 1

You have disclosed part of the evil history of the RCC.

I believe the reason was that they feared if the people read the Bible for themselves, the people would see how much the RCC did not follow the Bible and the leaders of the church would get kicked out.

When the printing press was invented and when Martin Luther translated the bible into German and it was available to the masses, a large percentage of the people left the RCC.

Pastor Art

Answer 2

Many of those prohibitions occurred as Europe was transforming from a predominantly illiterate society to a predominantly literate one. I believe that many of the older prohibitions were to prevent a person who had a Bible (probably a flawed translation) and the ability to read it (but not the knowledge and training of a priest) from becoming the ancient equivalent of a televangelist. Even now we see self-ordained preachers who take a few verses out of context and use them to bilk thousands of followers. I'm not Catholic but I can see good reason for the Church to be cautious.

Answer 3

"Catholic traditions and doctrines are not just in addition to the Scriptures, they
violate the Scriptures."

WRONG!!! The Catholic sacred traditions is everything Jesus and the Apostles taught by word of mouth. Do you think that everything Jesus spoke of and taught was written down? No it was not. Tons of what Jesus spoke and taught were taught by word of mouth. There was no stenographer or secretary taking dictation.






Is the Bible the sole "teaching from God?" No. The Bible Itself states that their are "oral" teachings and traditions that are to be carried on to the present-day (2 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Timothy 2:2; Romans 10:17; 1 Peter 1:24-25). These teachings are what the Catholic Church considers "Sacred Apostolic Tradition." This type of "Tradition" never changes because it was passed down by the Apostles themselves. It is not the same as the man-made traditions condemned in Scripture. The man-made traditions condemned in Scripture were those of the Jewish Pharisees. In fact, as Christians, we are suppose to disassociate ourselves from persons who do not follow Apostolic Tradition (2 Thessalonians 3:6). If oral tradition is not to be followed, why did St. Paul state Christ said something that is not recorded in the Gospels (Acts 20:35)? St. Paul must have "heard" this saying, not read it from any Gospel or "Scripture," thereby, proving that some things Christ said were not recorded in the Gospels (John 21:25) and were passed on orally among His disciples instead, but were just as valid as anything written since St. Paul himself used one of these oral passages in one of his own epistles.



The bibles you speak of were not authorized by God as the bible that the Catholic Church compiled.



Is private interpretation of the Bible condoned in the Bible Itself? No, it is not (2 Peter 1:20). Was individual interpretation of Scripture practiced by the early Christians or the Jews? Again, "NO" (Acts 8:29-35). The assertion that individuals can correctly interpret Scripture is false. Even the "founder" of Sola Scriptura (Martin Luther), near the end of his life, was afraid that "any milkmaid who could read" would found a new Christian denomination based on his or her "interpretation" of the Bible. Luther opened a "Pandora's Box" when he insisted that the Bible could be interpreted by individuals and that It is the sole authority of Christianity. Why do we have over 20,000 different non-Catholic Christian denominations? The reason is individuals' "different" interpretations of the Bible.
Can there be more than one interpretation of the Bible? No. The word "truth" is used several times in the New Testament. However, the plural version of the word "truth" never appears in Scripture. Therefore, there can only be one Truth. So how can there be over 20,000 non-Catholic Christian denominations all claiming to have the "Truth" (i.e., the correct interpretation of the Bible)? For that matter, aren't ALL non-Catholic Christians as individuals claiming "infallibility" when it comes to interpreting the Bible? Catholics only believe in the infallibility of the Papacy as an office. Which is more believable - one office holding infallibility or 400 million non-Catholic Christians who can't agree on the interpretation of Scripture all claiming "infallibility?" When it comes to interpreting Scripture, individual non-Catholic Christians claim the same infallibility as the Papacy. If one were to put two persons of the "same" non-Catholic Christian denomination (i.e., two Presybterians, two Lutherans, two Baptists, etc.) in separate rooms with a Bible and a notepad and ask them to write down their "interpretation" of the Bible, passage for passage, shouldn't they then produce the exact same interpretation? If guided by the Holy Spirit as Scripture states, the answer should be "Yes." But would that really happen? History has shown that the answer is "No." Now, in the case of Catholics, the Church which Christ founded and is with forever (Matthew 28:20) interprets the Bible, as guided by the Holy Spirit, (Mark 13:11) for the "sheep" (the faithful). The Church (not individuals) interpret Scripture. In Catholicism, Scripture is there for meditation, prayer and inspiration, not for individual interpretation to formulate doctrine or dogma.

Answer 4

umm...i prefer not to dwell in the past and keep moving forward and hope for the best. yes i use history as a guide, but it doesnt rule my life.

and just to let you know, im a Catholic who owns a Bible and has even read the whole thing. Becuz the "Catholic inquisitional Index of Valentia forbade the Holy Bible" in 1551 doesnt effect me, sorry

Answer 5

And what is your point?

The Catholic Church works very hard to preserve the Word of God. We don't try to keep the Word from people, just want to make sure what they read is correct.

Were it allowed to be translated into vernacular language, there was (and still is) a very strong chance that there would be errors in translation. In fact, there were a great many wrong translations in circulation, this is why they were destroyed.

I question some of your dates, and would have to know where you copied from (I know by the formatting that you didn't type it), but I am very sure it is from a VERY anti-Catholic web site, so I am sure that all of the information is slanted to reflect that.

Answer 6

All of that has since changed. Now Catholics are encouraged to read scripture on their own. However, the Church herself interprets it as follows the tradition of the apostles.

Answer 7

Maybe a Catholic would feel bound by this...I doubt anybody else would give it a second thought. Besides, I think the pope has other fish to fry.

Answer 8

I will add one more which you left out of the TABOO'S which the Catholic leadership doesn't want anyone AWARE of. The TRUE name of God in heaven WHICH Jerome wrote within the Latin Vulgate in 405 a.d. Get a "copy" of it and find out for yourself that each TIME Jesus spoke, he would state, "Amen says" or in the Latin, "Amen dico." This was translated into English as "Verily, verily I say" but is FALSE. CHRISTIANS are lead to believe that JESUS was a JEWISH messiah when in FACT he was the MESSIAH foretold would come 4600 years ago in a prophesy made by an EGYPTIAN priest of Egypt. The priest "NU." One FACT that stands out in all Jesus DID is the PRACTICE of an OSIRIAN rite performed by many PHARAOHS of Egypt "prior" to sacrificing themselves for the prosperity of the Lord's followers on earth. In the rite performed the Pharaoh offered bread as his "flesh" and wine to represent his "blood." The EXACT "same" RITE Jesus performed prior to being arrested and in the LAST SUPPER.......Another FACT of Jesus that isn't TOLD is that he chose 12 Apostles on earth. WHY? I will tell you "why." WHENEVER the God on earth (Pharaoh) had a problem, he would convene his council of "12" (priests) which represented the 12 Gods in heaven the Lord of Creation created to do his will, in the EGYPTIAN faith. This ALSO can not be linked to JUDAISM, but CAN be, to the faith of ancient EGYPT...........By the way, I am a priest of Amen in Yezua/Yeshua and thought you'd like to know alittle more the Catholic leadership doesn't want the "world" to know of TRUTH........

Answer 9

They knew that if just anybody could have a Bible, lunatics would use it to support all sorts of crazy ideas like faith healing, snake handling, the Republican Party, etc.

Also, they knew if it were available to everybody, it wouldn't be long before it was clear that ragtag bunch of fables has tons of glaring mistakes.

Answer 10

Jeez grow up, the bible is crappy and flawed as hell.

Deuteronomy 22:28
"If a man happens to meet a virgin woman who is not engaged to be married And he seizes her and rapes her but is caught in the act..."

Deuteronomy 22:29
"...the rapist must pay the girl's father fifty silver shekels. She must marry the rapist, because he has violated her. And so long as he lives, he may not divorce her."