Is Bible Reading Forbidden to Catholics?
454. Despite the tributes you pay to the Bible, Rome is hostile to it, and does not want her people to read it. That is not true. In fact the Catholic Church grants special spiritual favors to those who will read Holy Scripture daily. 455. Pope Pius VII. in 1816 denounced Bible Societies as a crafty device by which the very foundations of religion are undermined. He condemned the circulation of inaccurate translations by Protestant Societies; and the Protestant principle that all should read Scripture for themselves, interpreting it according to their own private judgment, however little qualified they might be to arrive at a sound judgment. He gave as his reason that different readers would arrive at different conclusions, and that the ideal given by St. Paul would be destroyed. For St. Paul wrote, “I beseech you that you all speak the same thing, being of the same mind and the same judgment.” 1 Cor 1:10. And the Pope was right. The chaos in doctrinal beliefs amongst Protestants is ex
