Are Roman Catholics not supposed to read the Bible themselves?

Question

I have heard that Catholics are not supposed to read the bible themselves, such as having a personal Bible at home. To my understanding, only a priest or trained theologan can interpret it and then explain the teachings to lay people. Do Catholic people not have Bibles in their homes. Many religious people talk about reading the Bible every day, would a Catholic not read it at home but rather go to a Church service to hear the Priests interpretations? Also, I have heard that until the 1950s Catholic services were only read in Latin........so how did the church goers understand??? Do they mean the priest only read the scripture in Latin and then when he explained he explained in English?

Answer 1

I know several practicing catholics, and to their credit, they do read their bibles, but reading and understanding are two different animals.

Answer 2

All Catholics are encouraged to read the Bible.

The Catholic Church teaches: 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.'

We also all listen to the Word being proclaimed and explained in every Mass.

In every Sunday Mass there are at least four Bible readings
+ First Reading - usually from the Old Testament
+ A Psalm is prayed by all
+ Second Reading - usually from a New Testament Epistle
+ Gospel Reading
+ then the priest bring them all together and helps us apply them to our lives in the homily

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 131-133: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1chpt2.htm#131

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Most of that is baloney. It is ironic - during the Reformation, Roman Catholic priests believed that people would embrace Catholicism if only they had the Bible in their language. For that reason, one of the first Bibles in English was the Roman Catholic Douay Rheims, printed and distributed before the Bishop's Bible, Geneva Bible, or King James Bible.

The modern Catholic Church has gone to great lengths to encourage Bible reading, including special indulgences offered to those who read the Bible at home every day, and the publication of one of the most accurate and up-to-date translations in the English language.

Where most people get confused is that, with the exception of the Douay Rheims, all of the early English Bibles were published by Calvinists, and reflected a decidedly Protestant slant. The King James is one of the most accurate Reformation translations, but even it goes way out of the way to make the text sound Protestant. These early English translations were banned in Roman Catholic countries, leading to the myth that the Church forbade the reading of Scripture. In fact, it forbade non-approved translations.

Answer 4

You've heard wrong. Bible interpretation is indeed left up to the Church, but that does not mean Catholic parishioners should have Bibles in their homes and read them regularly.

Also, in the Latin Mass, while the prayers were offered in Latin, Scripture readings were always done in the native tongue.

Answer 5

In Jesus' time, no ordinary person could interpret the Sacred Scriptures. That is where that comes from. Also, most people were illiterate and unlearned. They had no history lesson, except what the monks and priests taught.

Latin prayer books probably had a vernacular on one side of the missal. (I'm just guessing. The pope allowed my ancestors the okay to have the mass said in the vernacular, so I'm not sure for anyone who had to live under Latin rule.)

Answer 6

I'm Catholic and I have plenty of bibles in my home. Yes, I can read them as often as I like. I do rely on the Church for official interpretation on such doctrines as baptism, the Holy Trinity, the Eucharist, Confession, the Resurrection, etc.

Answer 7

our catholic church has bible study as does many other parishes, this is a lie spurted by anti catholics to make us look bad and to bring people to protestantism. latin used to be the vernacular in many communities. the catholic church can be shown to be the first church using all the early christian writings, including the catholic book we all know as the bible. here are some links for you, to show how catholic the early christians where and how the catholic church of today is as catholic as they earliest christians, consistent for 2000 years,

http://www.askmeaboutgod.org/(ask this via e mail for an excellant answer from a top catholic apologist).
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/
http://www.catholiceducation.org/
http://www.fisheaters.com/
http://www.newadvent.org/
http://www.salvationhistory.com/

the bible itself declares that the "church is the pillar and bulwark of the faith", if you want to know which church it refers to the links show it clearly to be the roman catholic church. we are not all qualified to interpret scripture, we don't all know the languages used in the origional manuscripts,the culture of the time amongst other things, the catholic church relies on the magesterium, the teaching body of the church for its truths, the same way protestant churchs rely on their pastor, however the catholic church has taught consistently for 2000 years the same doctrines, whereas pastors have divided the body of christ 30,000 plus times with all the various sects claiming their interpretation is right. catholics have bibles at home and the holy spirit can move us in different ways from the passages, but the holy spirit the spirit of truth will not move us to false doctrines.

Answer 8

They can own a Bible but are encouraged to open it only in presence of a nun or priest

Answer 9

There was a time when that was the case. When someone does not want you to know the truth they do not want you to read it and also the priests may also did not want to be asked many questions that they do not have answers for. There is so much they teach that is not biblical

Answer 10

No, that is not correct. We are encouraged to read the Bible.