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Speaking of too dumb to understand...don't you really know the reason that the Catholics restricted reading the Bible for a short period of time?????????Really????

Do you know that Catholics are still FORBIDDEN from buying a bible and reading it?? Yep that is so

Since it is clear from experience that if the Sacred Books are permitted everywhere and without discrimination in the vernacular, there will by reason of the boldness of men arise there from more harm than good, the matter is in this respect left to the judgment of the bishop or inquisitor, who may with the advice of the pastor or confessor permit the reading of the Sacred Books translated into the vernacular by Catholic authors to those who they know will derive from such reading no harm but rather an increase of faith and piety, which permission they must have in writing. Those, however, who presume to read or possess them without such permission, may not receive absolution from their sins till they have handed them over to the ordinary. Book-dealers who sell or in any other way supply Bibles written in the vernacular to anyone who has not this permission, shall lose the price of the books, which is to be applied by the bishop to pious purposes, and in keeping with the nature of the crime they shall be subject to other penalties which are left to the judgment of the same bishop. Regulars who have not the permission of their superiors may not read or purchase them. (Council of Trent, Tridentine Rules: Rule 4)

" . . . no one, relying on his own skill, shall,--in matters of faith, and of morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine,--wresting the sacred Scripture to his own senses, presume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which holy mother Church,--whose it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures,--hath held and doth hold," (Trent, Session 4, "Decree Concerning the Edition, and the Use, of the Sacred Books")

Wow...if this is still in force....words fail.

And with all the catholic writings out there who knows.

(*headdesk*)

Lord Jesus, give me strength...

I really don't like calling anyone "completely clueless"--but anyone who says that the quote from Trent is "forbidding the purchase and reading of a Bible" is... just clueless.

This decree of Pope Pius IV was in regard to PROTESTANT TRANSLATIONS of the Bible... not all vernacular translations, willy-nilly (those were available through permission of the bishop, who gave such permission willingly for translations which were trustworthy, and not corrupted by errors from Luther, et al.).

Why is it that some Protestants can cry out for people to "remember context!" in terms of the Scriptures (I'll leave the idea of whether or not they usually follow their own advice aside, for the moment), but they throw all caution to the winds when they see what seems to be a juicy "anti-Catholic tid-bit"?

Ohhh it is still in force.. Trent was an INFALLIBLE council that EVERY POPE MUST AFFIRM ...so Francis had to agree with every word of Trent.. including that

Strike two, FRiend. "Infallible" only applies to TEACHING (i.e. dogma); any sensible person knows that. POLICIES (what the Church calls "disciplines") can change at need, and they HAVE changed at need. Case in point, with this decree; it's a POLICY (the word "rule" should have given a hint)--and a very wise one, given the chaos stirred by heretical translations of the Scriptures... but it's no loner in force, as such.

This old canard of "the Catholic Church kept the Bible from people" is one of the most laughable, one of the least logical, and one of the most patently polemic-based accusations that anti-Catholic-Church people have ever concocted. Just for a sample:

If the Church were so eager to "hide the Scriptures from the people", then why did the Church:

1) translate it into the vernacular at all (including the Latin Vulgate, which was the vernacular in St. Jerome's time; he received a great deal of flak for translating it from the "hallowed Greek and Hebrew")? I've yet to hear any cogent Protestant explanation for the hundreds of Pre-Lutherian-rebellion vernacular translations, BTW... including St. Cyril, who invented an entirely new alphabet, for the sole purpose of teaching and printing and disseminating the Bible (and Mass texts based on the Bible), all done with the explicit blessing of Popes St. Nicholas I and Adrian II.

2) preserve the Scriptures at all? How better to start a "false religion" around oneself than to destroy all incriminating evidence, and write one's own "holy book" from scratch? Why did that not happen?

3) read the Scriptures at every Mass, and weave Scripture into virtually every prayer ever uttered by Catholic clergy? The practice of reading the Scriptures to the illiterate masses (and interpreting it for them) seems a rather silly way to keep it from them.

4) bother with disseminating the Bible at ALL--especially in the supposed "dark ages", when Protestants claim the Catholic Church was all-powerful? If the Church is truly a "man-made" religion which "rules with an iron fist by sheer weight of authority", then who would have been able to STOP such a "dominant, man-made Church" from destroying all but one copy of the Scriptures, and locking it in a highly-guarded museum, much like the Mona Lisa? (The supposed "money-grubbing Church" could even have charged admission, and made a handy income, from the faithful pilgrims who came to venerate the "Holy Book" from behind the spectator railings...)

Sheesh...

I’m just SURE that a Catholic will try to trump these quotes with later ones; all the while prattling on about unchanging the church is...

Do you know that Catholics are still FORBIDDEN from buying a bible and reading it?? Yep that is so

Nope, that isn't so...In my house there are probably 6 bibles, (Catholic) of various values and from various periods of time....I have mine from when I was a student in a CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL....we have a nice leather bound Bible on a very nice Maahogany stand and some smaller but very thick versions that we got somewhere...Our local Catholic book store sells a lot of Bibles and since I was in school in the 1950's, I have NEVER heard of Catholics not being URGED to own and read the bible.