Pope, at audience, encourages Christians to read Bible

Published: 2007-11-14

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To know God and to know how to live their lives, Christians must read the Bible, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Drawing close to the biblical texts, especially the New Testament, is essential for believers because 'ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ,'" the pope said, quoting St. Jerome. At his Nov. 14 weekly general audience, the pope continued a talk begun the week before about the importance of the teaching of St. Jerome, the fourth-century doctor of the church. Reading the Bible teaches believers the way they are to live their lives, the pope said, but the Scriptures must be read in a spirit of prayer and must be understood the way the church understands them. "For Jerome, a fundamental criterion for the interpretation of Scriptures was harmony with the magisterium of the church," he said. Pope Benedict said the books of the Bible "were written by the people of God, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit," so "only in harmony with the faith of this people can we understand the sacred Scripture."

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