Right, and a scholar and lawyer I know, who is Jewish, but studied in Catholic Universities, credits the Spanish Inquisition, and not Old Testament Law with the lack of modern Jewish evangelism. Second, the Church of Rome has, historically, discouraged Catholics from owning Bibles and printed or wrote those Bibles in a language the populace (those who could read in their own language) couldn't understand. This effectively made church officials the exclusive source of religious information. Can't we say that the Roman Catholic Church has come along way, and stop saying the the Church is wholly immutable?
That was the point that I was trying to express.
We see that same thing happening today, with today's liberal controlled media. How dare Fox News Network and the Internet question what they are telling the people!
By the way, I honor and respect today's Catholic Church. In many ways, we share similar beliefs and I have always enjoyed spending a Sunday with them.
The only time or place where this has happened was in southern France in the 13th Century, where there was an active and anti-Christian heresy called Albigensianism. The Albigenses read a corrupted version of the Bible in the local language. The prohibition was local, not universal, and lasted for about 50 years.
and printed or wrote those Bibles in a language the populace (those who could read in their own language) couldn't understand.
First off, prior to the 19th Century, anyone who was educated at all was educated in Latin, so that wasn't a language the educated populace "couldn't understand".
And both John Foxe and the foreword to the 1611 KJV admit that there were numerous translations of the Bible into English before the English Reformation. Other European languages were similar.