Tuesday 19th March 2024

Home » Featured Today » Currently Reading:

A New And Orthodox Papal Document On Sacred Scripture

October 11, 2019 Featured Today No Comments

 

By Fr. BRIAN W. HARRISON, OS

Increasingly, over the six years of the Francis pontificate, a lot of us have been asking, wearily, “Can anything good come out of Domus Sanctae Marthae”?
Well, something just did.
Everyone watching Rome lately has been focusing on the Ominous Amazon — the synod starting this Sunday, October 6 [Editor’s Note: This issue of The Wanderer went to press on October 3] that seems primed to discharge muddy and odoriferous waters contaminated by paganism, pantheism, and indifferentism into the clear sea of sound Catholic doctrine.
But now, practically on the eve of the synod, the Bergoglian “God of surprises” has given us a totally unexpected document on a totally different topic. Happily, however, there are no surprises at all in the doctrine it teaches; for this remains in clear continuity with what the Church has always taught about the inspiration, historicity, and even inerrancy, of Sacred Scripture. (Well, perhaps such traditional content is rather a surprise, coming as it does from the most un-traditional Pope in history.)
Dated and released on September 30, 2019, Feast of the iconic biblical scholar St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church, the new papal document is an apostolic letter motu proprio, enttiled  Aperuit Illis, inserting a new liturgical observance into the Novus Ordo calendar. The theme of the new document is the vital importance of the Word of God in the life of the Church; and in order to give greater recognition and emphasis to its central role, Pope Francis here establishes that the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time is henceforth to be observed every year as “the Sunday of the Word of God.”
(It remains to be seen whether this new legislation will also be applied to one of the first Sundays after Epiphany in the Traditional Latin Rite.)
The Holy Father proceeds to explain that the liturgy on this Sunday “is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God. . . . The various communities will find their own ways to mark this Sunday with a certain solemnity. It is important, however, that in the Eucharistic celebration the sacred text be enthroned, in order to focus the attention of the assembly on the normative value of God’s word. On this Sunday, it would be particularly appropriate to highlight the proclamation of the word of the Lord and to emphasize in the homily the honor that it is due. Bishops could celebrate the Rite of Installation of Lectors or a similar commissioning of readers, in order to bring out the importance of the proclamation of God’s word in the liturgy.”
This seems to me an initiative that Catholics should warmly  welcome. I found myself encouraged from the outset by the forthright opening sentences of the motu proprio. For they assert plainly the historical character of a Gospel Resurrection narrative which all too many “Bultmaniac” biblical scholars, inside and outside the Catholic Church, have for the best part of a century reduced to the status of legend in the name of the “historical-critical method.” Indeed, these critics, who are now highly influential in most Western Catholic seminaries and theological faculties, tend to give all the Resurrection and Infancy narratives this same “demythologizing” treatment, often appealing to Vatican II or its alleged “spirit.” (Actually, the Council’s treatment of the Gospels in Dei Verbum n. 19 asserts their historicity from the beginning “until the day [Jesus] was taken up,” precisely in order to leave no doubt about the historical truth of the Gospels in their entirety.) The opening words and title of the motu proprio, Aperuit Illis, (“He opened unto them”), are a citation from St. Luke’s account of the appearance of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Francis, speaking this time in continuity with all his Predecessors in the See of Peter, tells us:
“ ‘He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures’ (Luke 24:45). This was one of the final acts of the risen Lord before his Ascension. Jesus appeared to the assembled disciples, broke bread with them and opened their minds to the understanding of the sacred Scriptures. To them, amid their fear and bewilderment, he unveiled the meaning of the paschal mystery: that in accordance with the Father’s eternal plan he had to suffer and rise from the dead, in order to bring repentance and the forgiveness of sins (cf. Luke 24:26.46-47). He then promised to send the Holy Spirit, who would give them strength to be witnesses of this saving mystery (cf. Luke 24:49).”
I will not attempt here, in this brief introductory presentation, to give a comprehensive commentary on the entire motu proprio. I am focusing here simply on one aspect: its orthodoxy. Suffice it to say that the treatment of Sacred Scripture throughout the new document is completely sound and in accordance with Catholic Tradition. When the Old Testament is presented, for instance, it too is treated as true history: Ezra’s public reading of the Law after the Jews’ return from exile, and its profound impact on the people as recorded in Nehemiah, chapter 8, are presented as real events, and indeed, as a foundational precedent for the new liturgical honor the Pope is now prescribing for the Word of God over two millennia later.
This passage is in fact the first reading for the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year C, and is probably one reason why this Sunday each year has been selected. The Gospel for that day in Year C is equally relevant: It’s the beginning of St. Luke’s Gospel, asserting the historical character, based on eyewitness accounts, of the events he is about to record, and part of chapter 4, which records our Lord’s first solemn proclamation of the Word of God — the prophecy of Isaiah — in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth.
(Francis also explains that this week has been chosen also because of its ecumenical significance — the week of Christian unity in January, in which the Scriptures are honored as points of contact with separated Christians and to a more limited extent with Jews.)
Finally, in view of more than half a century of seemingly endless debate over the meaning of the passage in article 11 of Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, which speaks of the Bible’s freedom from error, article 9 of Aperuit Illis seems worthy of special mention. Francis has this to say:
“In the Second Letter to Timothy, which is in some ways his spiritual testament, St. Paul urges his faithful co-worker to have constant recourse to sacred Scripture. The Apostle is convinced that ‘all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness’ (3:16). Paul’s exhortation to Timothy is fundamental to the teaching of the conciliar Constitution Dei Verbum on the great theme of biblical inspiration, which emphasizes the Scriptures” saving purpose, spiritual dimension and inherent incarnational  principle.
“First, recalling Paul’s encouragement to Timothy, Dei Verbum stresses that ‘we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures” (n.). Since the Scriptures teach with a view to salvation through faith in Christ (cf. 2 Tim 3:15), the truths contained therein are profitable for our salvation. The Bible is not a collection of history books or a chronicle, but is aimed entirely at the integral salvation of the person. The evident historical setting of the books of the Bible should not make us overlook their primary goal, which is our salvation. Everything is directed to this purpose and essential to the very nature of the Bible, which takes shape as a history of salvation in which God speaks and acts in order to encounter all men and women and to save them from evil and death” (bold type added).
The widespread misinterpretation of Dei Verbum n. 11 which has become dominant in Catholic theological faculties in recent decades can be called a theory of restricted biblical inerrancy. It’s based on the mistaken premise that only some of what the Bible records is there “for the sake of our salvation.” On that premise, DV 11 implies that whatever biblical affirmations an exegete considers irrelevant for salvation can be considered by him as not protected by the divine guarantee of inerrancy, and, therefore, as possibly erroneous.
But this interpretation, repeatedly censured in the pre-Vatican II papal encyclicals on Sacred Scripture, is manifestly indefensible, given that the very same sentence of Dei Verbum states that everything affirmed by the sacred writers must be held as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, who, obviously, cannot err. So the only coherent interpretation of the Council’s teaching — and the only interpretation consistent with the Church’s perennial Magisterium — is the doctrine of unrestricted biblical inerrancy, i.e., that all affirmations of the biblical authors are both affirmed by the Holy Spirit, their co-Author, and relevant in some way for salvation (at least within their context of a more extended passage of Scripture).
In other words, all biblical affirmations, regardless of their specific subject-matter, are guaranteed to be true, first, by virtue of their divine authorship, and secondly, by their relevance in some way for our salvation.
Now, what I find very encouraging in the Pope’s new motu proprio is that the passage cited above from article 9 is entirely in accord with this traditional doctrine of biblical inerrancy, as reaffirmed by Vatican Council II. As can be seen in the words placed in bold type above, Francis does not say that “some” truths contained in Scripture are profitable for salvation, rather, “the” truths contained therein are profitable for salvation. No restriction is placed here.
Indeed, “Everything,” he affirms, even in the historical sections of the Bible, “is directed to this purpose and essential to the very nature of the Bible.” The Pope also places great emphasis on St. Paul’s insistence to Timothy that “all Scripture” is not only inspired by God, but “profitable” for the kind of formation necessary for salvation. Francis even emphasizes that this scriptural passage, also quoted in DV 11, “is fundamental to the teaching of the conciliar Constitution Dei Verbum on the great theme of biblical inspiration.”
In short, Francis clearly implies here, as does St. Paul and the bi-millennial Catholic Magisterium, that everything affirmed by the inspired authors of the Bible is relevant in some way for our salvation, and is guaranteed by its co-Author, the Holy Spirit, to be free from error.
May this motu proprio, and the annual “Sunday of the Word of God” that it introduces to our liturgy, be a source of renewed appreciation for God’s inspired and inerrant Word as a wellspring of our life as Catholic Christians!

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

Irreverent funeral service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for trans activist sparks outcry

A raucous funeral liturgy for a high-profile trans activist and sex-worker advocate was held Thursday in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, sparking an outcry on social media that the iconic church was misused to advance an ideological agenda at odds with Catholic teaching. The Manhattan cathedral hosted the Feb. 15 funeral service for Cecilia Gentili, an activist who helped to decriminalize sex work in New York, lobbied for “gender identity” to be added as…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)