“One example would be the whole bit about Catholics being discouraged from reading the Bible during the Reformation.”
Commoners were actively discouraged from reading the Bible as a matter of Catholic Church policy.
“The first index published by a pope (Paul IV), in 1559, prohibited under the title of Biblia prohibita a number of Latin editions as well as the publication and possession of translations of the Bible in German, French, Spanish, Italian, English, or Dutch, without the permission of the sacred office of the Roman Inquisition (Reusch, ut sup., i, 264).
In 1584 Pius IV published the index prepared by the commission mentioned above. Herein ten rules are laid down, of which the fourth reads thus:
“Inasmuch as it is manifest from experience that if the Holy Bible, translated into the vulgar tongue, be indiscriminately allowed to every one, the rashness of men will cause more evil than good to arise from it, it is, on this point, referred to the judgment of the bishops or inquisitors, who may, by the advice of the priest or confessor, permit the reading of the Bible translated into the vulgar tongue by Catholic authors, to those persons whose faith and piety they apprehend will be augmented and not injured by it; and this permission must be had in writing.
But if any shall have the presumption to read or possess it without such permission, he shall not receive absolution until he have first delivered up such Bible to the ordinary.”
Regulations for booksellers follow, and then: “Regulars shall neither read nor purchase such Bibles without special license from their superiors.”
Sixtus V substituted in 1590 twenty-two new rules for the ten of Pius IV. Clement VIII abolished in 1596 the rules of Sixtus, but added a “remark” to the fourth rule given above, which particularly restores the enactment of Paul IV. The right of the bishops, which the fourth rule implies, is abolished by the “remark,” and the bishop may grant a dispensation only when especially authorized by the pope and the Inquisition (Reusch, ut sup., i, 333).
Benedict XIV enlarged, in 1757, the fourth rule thus: “If such Bible-versions in the vernacular are approved by the apostolic see or are edited with annotations derived from the holy fathers of the Church or from learned and Catholic men, they are permitted.”
This modification of the fourth rule was abolished by Gregory XVI in pursuance of an admonition of the index-congregation, Jan. 7, 1836, “which calls attention to the fact that according to the decree of 1757 only such versions in the vernacular are to be permitted as have been approved by the apostolic see or are edited with annotations,” but insistence is placed on all those particulars enjoined by the fourth rule of the index and afterward by Clement VIII (Reusch, ut sup., ii, 852).”
http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc02/htm/iv.v.lxi.htm
Please note these restrictions were in place for centuries during which Protestants had very good access to scripture, along with very good translations.
“What they were discouraged from doing was reading certain translations.”
Actually, I have a reprint of the original New Testament translation by Tyndale. It contained no notes and was (and is) a very good translation. It was published with strong opposition from the Catholic Church in the early 1500s.
“Catholics are still not supposed to interpret Scripture for themselves unless the plain meaning is obvious. That has always been the case.”
90% of scripture has an obvious plain meaning. It only becomes difficult when one tries to reconcile the plain meaning with Catholic theology.
Again the prohibitions were against reading wrong translations of the Bible or of reading approved translations without the guidance of the Church. Private interpretation of passages where the plain meaning is not evident is still not allowed.
We forget because we are very fortunate to have excellent translations of the Bible available to us that this has not always been the case. In the past vulgar translations were not always done at the hand of Biblical scholars and they did contain errors.
It is the duty of the Church to protect the faithful from error. That was the reason for prohibiting the reading of Scripture translations that had not been reviewed to make sure they were correctly translated into the vulgar text.