Q — Why are there so many different versions of the Bible? And how did the New American become chosen as the one Catholics use?
A — There are different versions of the Bible for one basic reason: as the Christian faith spread throughout the world, there was a need for people to have access to the Holy Scriptures in their own vernacular languages. With respect to the New American Bible, it had its beginnings following Pope Pius XII’s encyclical letter on the Scriptures, Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943). Among other things, that encyclical gave encouragement to Catholics to become much more familiar with the Scriptures. As a result of that encyclical, the Catholic bishops of the United States approached the Catholic Biblical Association of America and asked it to undertake a fresh translation into English of the Sacred Scriptures from the original languages. That fresh translation is the New American Bible, the collegial work of some 50 scholars. Because the Catholic bishops commissioned it, the New American Bible has a special standing in our church.
Q — Are both of the following considered magisterial (or infallible) teachings that all Catholics must believe? From Pope Pius IX, Quanta Cura, 1864: “and from this wholly false idea of social organization they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, especially fatal to the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by our predecessor, Gregory XVI, insanity, namely that the liberty of conscience and worship is the proper right of every man, and should be proclaimed by law in every correctly established society… Each and every doctrine individually mentioned in this letter, by our apostolic authority we reject, proscribe and condemn; and we wish and command that they be considered as absolutely rejected by all the sons of the Church.” From Vatican II, Declaration on Religious Liberty, 1964: “The Council further declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person… This right to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed. Thus it is to become a civil right.”
A —”Magisterial” and “infallible” are not synonymous terms. “Magisterium” has to do with the teaching office of the pope in concert with the college of bishops, and “infallible” has to do with the guarantee of the Holy Spirit that a particular teaching on faith or morals is free of error, according to the understanding and criteria set down at the first Vatican Council. In the strict sense set down by the first Vatican Council in 1870 neither of these two statements is infallible. Neither of them has been made an explicit expression of infallibility, ex cathedra. The encyclical Quanta Cura was issued by Pope Pius IX in 1864 to condemn the various expressions of what he called “liberalism,” and religious toleration was an aspect of liberalism. Perhaps a little historical background is in order. Pius was deeply opposed to religious toleration. He came out against, for example, the modest degree of tolerance shown toward Protestant worship by the Spanish government. He took issue with the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who permitted Jews to attend the university.
Initially the center of liberalism was undoubtedly Turin in Piedmont. Its king, Victor Emmanuel II, with his prime minister, Count Cavour, continued to promote the cause of Italian unification.
A policy hostile to the church was pursued in Piedmont. For example, in 1854, almost all monasteries and convents were suppressed, except for some nursing and teaching congregations. In many ways from the perspective of Pius IX the entire situation in Italy had a rather apocalyptic feel to it. On the one hand was liberal Piedmont representing the forces of evil, and, on the other, himself leading the legions of God. This is the context in which he denounces religious tolerance.
This perspective is overridden in the development of Catholic thought by the Declaration on Religious Liberty of Vatican II which teaches explicitly appropriate religious respect and tolerance as a human right. Read more at www.catholicsentinel.org |
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