Vatican
City, 12 April 2013
(VIS) – This morning, the Holy Father received the members of the
Pontifical Biblical Commission with their president, Archbishop
Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, at the conclusion of their annual plenary assembly,
which had the theme of “Inspiration and Truth in the Bible”.
In
his address to them, the Pope emphasized that this theme “affects
not only the individual believer but the whole Church, for the
Church's life and mission are founded on the Word of God, which is
the soul of theology as well as the inspiration of all of Christian
existence.”
“Sacred
Scripture,” he reaffirmed,“ is the written testimony of the
divine Word, the canonical memory that attests to the event of
Revelation. However, the Word of God precedes the Bible and surpasses
it. That is why the centre of our faith isn't just a book, but a
salvation history and above all a person, Jesus Christ, the Word of
God made flesh. It is precisely because the Word of God embraces and
extends beyond Scripture that, in order to properly understand it,
the Holy Spirit's constant presence, who guides us “to all truth”,
is necessary. It is necessary to place ourselves within the great
Tradition that has, with the Holy Spirit's assistance and the
Magisterium's guidance, recognized the canonical writings as the Word
that God addresses to his people, who have never ceased meditating
upon it and discovering inexhaustible riches from it.”
The
pontiff recalled that Vatican Council II repeated this very clearly
in the dogmatic constitution “Dei Verbum”: “All of what has
been said about the way of interpreting Scripture is subject finally
to the judgement of the Church, which carries out the divine
commission and ministry of guarding and interpreting the word of
God.” “In fact, Sacred Scripture is the Word of God in that it is
written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Sacred
Tradition, instead, transmits the Word of God in its entirety,
entrusted by Christ the Lord and by the Holy spirit to the Apostles
and their successors, so that these, enlightened by the Spirit of
truth, might faithfully preserve it with their preaching, might
expound and propound it.”
“The
interpretation of Sacred Scriptures cannot be just an individual
academic effort, but must always be compared to, inserted within, and
authenticated by the living tradition of the Church. This norm is
essential in identifying the proper and reciprocal relationship
between the exegesis and the Magisterium of the Church. The texts
that God inspired were entrusted to the Community of believers, the
Church of Christ, to nourish the faith and to guide the life of
charity.”
The
Bishop of Rome bid the members of the Biblical Commission farewell,
thanking them for their work and expressing the desire that this Year
of Faith “may help to make the light of Sacred Scripture shine
within the hearts of the faithful.”
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