It had long been a common, but mistaken, belief among Protestants that Catholics did not need to know the Scriptures because they did not carry a Bible into church. However, outsiders often did not realize that both the New and Old Testament are read at Mass. The Catholic Church gave the world the Bible and yet, for some strange reason, Catholics had to defend their interpretation of the Scriptures and their knowledge about them.
After several Church Councils, Pope Damasus declared the Canon of the Bible complete in 382 AD. While some of the Old Testament books were taken out of the Bible by some Protestant leaders after the Reformation, the Protestant New Testament is the same Bible that the Councils and Pope Damasus agreed on through the intercession of the Holy Spirit. So every time a Protestant refers to his New Testament as "God's Word" or "Scripture," he is unwittingly assenting to the authority of the Church. However, the Church believes that Scripture and Sacred Tradition together form the deposit of apostolic faith. St. Paul tells us the importance of tradition in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 1 Timothy 3:15. If we didn't believe in tradition, how would we have the Bible? The contents of the Bible were passed down orally before they were written.
The Church has never forbid Catholics from reading the Bible, but in the Middle Ages few could read or write and, before the invention of the printing press, each copy had to be made by hand. Therefore, few people owned Bibles. Ultimately, the printing press and education changed all of that. In 1920, Pope Benedict XV proclaimed that every Catholic should have a Bible. Lately many Catholics are turning to Bible studies as well as purchasing Study Bibles such as the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible or the Navarre Bible. This growing embrace of the study of Scripture by lay Catholics is chronicled in my book, The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism. The rise of the new apologetics, led by the likes of Dr Scott Hahn, has brought long-ignored Bible passages to the forefront, helping explain 2,000 years of Church teaching. It is not that Catholics and Protestants were unaware of these verses, but, with the help of the new apologetics movement and the Internet, the Church's interpretation of them was made more widely known. Cradle Catholic apologists like Patrick Madrid worked in cooperation with converts such as Dave Armstrong, Dr. Ray Guarendi, Dr. Scott Hahn, Mark Shea, and Tim Staples to help Catholics and non-Catholics understand the Church's teachings. During the last ten years, Catholic Bible Study and the sale of Catholic book dealing with the understanding of Scripture have skyrocketed.
Whether it is the Eucharist, Confession, Mary, or the role of the pope, the aforementioned apologists, among others, have given Catholic teaching greater exposure. Could Christ have been any clearer on the importance of the Eucharist in John 6:22-69? The same clarity could be claimed for Saint Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 11:23-30. These two passages have helped many Catholics and non-Catholics appreciate this great Sacrament. The unmistakable words of Jesus, and His first words after the Resurrection, addressed the Sacrament of Reconciliation in John 20:19-23.
The role of the pope, the successor to Saint Peter, has been brilliantly explained by these new apologists. Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and told him he had the power to loose and bind. Whatever he bound on earth would also be bound in heaven and whatever he loosed on earth would also be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:16-19). Keys were very significant in ancient Jewish culture for they signified ownership which had to be passed down. The keys would be passed down as they were in Isaiah 22:15-25. Early Christians would have understood precisely the meaning of this verse. The writings of Pope Clement (the fourth pope) and others made clear the importance of the Holy Father even in the earliest days of the Church.
As we can see, our faith is built upon Scripture and Tradition. It could not have lasted for 2,000 years if it was not the Church Christ established. There are over 34,000 Protestant denominations and non-denominational churches just in the United States. However, in the whole world there is but one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. With the study of the Scriptures, we see why. Indeed the tide is turning!
