Friends and family members who were alive for the pre-Vatican II Church tell me that Catholics were actively discouraged from reading the Bible.
You needed Clerical-types to interpret it for you. Or so I am told.
Certainly not the case in the Church today.
From the article:
**According to Pius XII, “the Vulgate, as the Church has understood and does now understand, is free from all error in matters of faith and morals. Consequently, as the Church herself testifies, it can be safely quoted, without the least fear of erring, in disputations, public readings, and sermons. Its authenticity should not be called critical, but juridical. **
You got it!
As a matter of fact, Catholics are ENCOURAGED to study the Holy Bible.
Catholics don’t do YOPIOS. Some attempt it, and I am guilty there too.