Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: Rocketman
Well I can certainly understand your confusion but as I said before:

the word "official" has a definite meaning within the Church, it does not refer to just the private correspondence or off-hand statements of anyone including a Pope.

I'm not surprised there was at least one pope who stated Martin Luther was the anti-Christ but that does not make it a teaching of the magisterium or a dogmatic statement. Popes say lots of things that we Catholics do not have to agree with. For instance a dogmatic statement or infallible statement by a Pope has to be in union with his brother bishops and can only concern matters of faith and morals. This has happened rarely since Vatican I.

The web pages you read are individual's opinions and have absolutely no authority in the Catholic Church.

And here is the real issue, authority. Because the Catholic Church is hierarchical and 2000 years old it has very defined ways of operating. No statement by the Pope, even the one he made which started this thread, can be taken as a dogmatic statement or a statement of belief unless certain rules are followed. As it happens, this particular statement by Benedict XVI about Sacred Scripture is just a reiteration of official Church teaching. The Church teaches that reading and knowing the Bible is important, after all it was the Catholic Church which decided which Scripture was worthy. Which Bible do you read? Even Luther's Bible was Catholic until he had his own translation made and removed certain passages he found offensive - now there's an ego for you!

In times past some wanted to translate the Bible their way, without the Catholic Church's approval, that is when the Church disapproves. At one time during the Reformation there were at least 500 translations of the Bible, some with outragious errors in them. Fortunately, even Protestant leaders objected to the worst of them and they are no longer around. Even after Henry VIII, after he broke away from the Catholic Church took issue with those who tried to translate Scripture without his approval. As I recall he didn't think it should be translated into English.

183 posted on 10/09/2005 3:41:32 AM PDT by Diva
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 180 | View Replies ]


To: Diva

Interesting. Thank you for your comments I appreciate the clarifications.


184 posted on 10/09/2005 11:40:43 AM PDT by Rocketman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 183 | View Replies ]

To: Diva

Interesting. Thank you for your comments I appreciate the clarifications.


185 posted on 10/09/2005 2:24:11 PM PDT by Rocketman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 183 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson