The reason I mentioned indulgences was that, whether one thinks they are a good thing or not, if one is granted for reading Scripture that would seem to argue that the Catholic Church is encouraging reading Scripture. The charge had been made that the church discourages it.
In general, I would say a thing's having the capacity to be abused does not necessarily prove that it's a bad thing.
As to whether the Catholic church DIS-courages Bible reading I leave to to Catholics to say what attitude comes to them. The position of the Catholic church as to the relative importance of the Bible as a source of doctrinal authority, however, is quite clear:
“Holy Scripture is therefore not the only theological source of the Revelation made by God to His Church. Side by side with Scripture there is tradition, side by side with the written revelation there is the oral revelation. This granted, it is impossible to be satisfied with the Bible alone for the solution of all dogmatic questions. Such was the first field of controversy between Catholic theologians and the Reformers.”(Catholic Encyclopedia)
I’m inclined to agree.
However, I do think that there have been periods in the Vatican’s history when it did fairly harshly discourage the common reading of Scripture.
And, such times and attitudes are hardly Christ-like or God pleasing.
I am blessed to observe that a number of Faithful Roman Catholics et al hereon do seem to have a genuine respect for and love of Scripture. PRAISE GOD FOR THAT. May He bless their reading and meditating thereon as He seems to be doing.