Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Scripture Verses Officially Interpreted By the Catholic Church

One of the misunderstandings that people have of Catholicism is that the Church gives official definitions to every phrase of Scripture.

Revelation doesn't work that way. Not all Truth can be written down, even though it's accepted by the body of believers. Otherwise, it's also implicit in what is already being taught.

However, there are some verses whose meanings have been defined by the Church.

I find this blogpost on the subject interesting, because I've always wondered what they were.

These official interpretations do not exclude additional but non-contradictory interpretations.

Just an example:

Lk 22:19, 1 Cor 11:24 - Council of Trent, September 17, 1562 "Canons on the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass," canon 2

If anyone says that by these words: "Do this for a commemoration of me [Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24], Christ did not make the apostles priest, or did not ordain that they and other priests might offer His own body and blood: let him be anathema.

The Church derives basic concepts from Scripture and defines those as doctrines. Just sayin'.