Pope on Inspiration and Truth in the Bible

(23 Apr 09 - RV) Pope Benedict met with members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission Thursday at the end of their Plenary Assembly that focused on the theme “Inspiration and Truth in the Bible”.

Reading and understanding the Word of God. Finding out what the Sacred Scriptures mean and how they apply to the daily life of every Christian, lay and religious and most importantly, the Truth that the Bible is the Word of God, revealed to mankind. For the past week, biblical scholars and theologians have been speaking about this, here at the Vatican and on Thursday led by Cardinal William Joseph Levada, they met with Pope Benedict to find out what he had to say on the matter.

He told them that Sacred Scripture can only be understood as the authentic Word of God in the context of the Church, because it refuses all subjective interpretations.

The Pope returned to the second Vatican Council Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation DEI VERBUM, where it states that first and foremost God is the Author of Sacred Scripture; that both the New and Old Testament were written under the “inspiration of the Holy Spirit”, and that therefore they, firmly faithfully and without error teach us the Truth that God wanted written for our salvation”.

Moreover Pope Benedict said that Dei Verbum underlines how God spoke to humanity in human language, and that because the Sacred Scriptures were inspired there is a correct interpretation “without which they are lifeless”.

Here he pointed to the three criteria indicated by the Council; attention to content and its unity within the entire Scripture, its insertion into the context and tradition of the living Church and its cohesion with the complex plan of Divine Revelation, or in simple terms our faith.

Pope Benedict warned that scientific and scholastic study of the bible alone will “never be sufficient”. That scholars and teachers must always be careful never to “loose sight of the principle purpose” of the bible, nor succumb to the “individualistic illusion that biblical texts can be better understood from outside the community of the faithful”, because the texts written by God were entrusted “to his community, the Church, to nurture faith and guide them in a life of charity”.


In conclusion, in a world where scientific research takes on increasing importance in various field, the field of biblical studies must remain solidly rooted in the rock of the Church.