Question Title | Posted By | Question Date |
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Innocent III | Deacon Larry | Wednesday, May 6, 2009 |
Question: In reading the book The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity, the author, Alex McFarland, states on page 93, "In 1199 Pope Innocent III ordered all bibles burned, and anyone who tried to hide or stow away a copy of Scripture faced house arrest." In reviewing descriptions of Innocent III on Catholic sites I can find no reference to this incident. What can you tell me? |
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Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM
Dear Deacon: Sorry for the delay. This subject and the disingenuous comments about this subject made by anti-Catholics reminds me of an illustration. If there were some Political Science books that printed the Constitution of the United States that said that blacks were 2/3 persons and that women cannot vote, could we expect those textbooks to be pulled from the classroom and destroyed? Yes. That is what this issue is about. Any Bibles disapproved by the Holy See and destroyed were translations of the Bible that were doctrinally flawed. The Church has a responsibility to protect the faithful from heretical material. With a book as important for the faith as the Bible, the Church has a responsibility to ensure that nothing adulterates it. Yet we have bigots who say, "One of the greatest dangers the Bible faced was the period when the Popes of Rome controlled the world. Pope Innocent III, 1199, had French Bibles burned and would not permit the people to have more." From Cardinal Merry de Val, "Forward," in the Index of Prohibited Books, revised and published by order of His Holiness Pope Pius XI (new ed.; [Vatican City]: Vatican Polyglot Press, 1930), pp. ix-xi:
OUR SUNDAY VISITOR ON BANNING VERNACULAR BIBLES:
The historical fact is that it was the Catholic Church who first translated portions of the Bible into the vernacular. Even the Latin Vulgate was a translation on this sort in that Greek had fallen into disused. The first English translations of portions of the Bible were done by the Catholic Church in the eight century. The Douay-Rheims Bible was translated into English before the King James Version. Tyndale, for example, in his translation had many flaws. That was the reason the Church condemned it. God bless, Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum
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