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Another Anti-Catholic Myth Exposed

Recently I was doing an Internet search for some apologetics information about the Church’s approach to the Bible down through history. I came across a message that had been posted to an apologetics mailing list last winter asking about a rather suspicious-sounding quote about several bishops criticizing Pope Julius II and encouraging him to keep the Bible out of the hands of the laity. This is the bishops’ text as it was quoted online:

“Of all the advice that we can offer Your Holiness, we have kept the most necessary to the last. We must open our eyes well and use all possible force in the matter, namely, to permit the reading of the Gospel as little possible, especially in the vernacular, in all those countries under your jurisdiction. Let the very little part of the Gospel suffice that is usually read in the Mass, and let no one be permitted to read more. So long as the people will be content with that small amount, your interests will prosper, but as soon as the people want to read more, your interests will begin to fail. The Bible is the book that, more than any other, has raised against us the tumults and tempests by which we have almost perished. In fact, if anyone examines closely and compares the teachings of the Bible with what takes place in our churches, he will soon find discord, and will realize that our teaching is often different from the Bible and, oftener still, contrary to it. An d if the people wake up to this, they will never stop challenging you till everything is laid bare and then we shall become the objects of universal scorn and hatred. Therefore, it is necessary to withdraw the Bible from the sight of the people, but with extreme caution, in order not to cause rebellion.”

It is a claim that is apparently quite popular among certain anti-Catholics as “proof” that the papacy has used every means possible to keep people from reading the Bible. The individuals making this claim said that the relevant quotation was contained in a manuscript preserved in the French National Library in Paris.

I found the entire quote rather strange-sounding and suspicious. Being fluent in French, I decided to e-mail the National Library’s reference desk to find out the truth. The reference librarian e-mailed me back. This is what he had to say:

“The text that you have inquired about is a satirical-style criticism of the papacy, published in 1553, under the title Consilium quorundam episcoporum Bononiae congregatorum quod de ratione stabiliendae Romanae ecclesiae Iulio P.M. datum est. [The counsel of certain bishops of Bologna having been convened for the reason of stabilizing the Roman church (that) was given to Julius, P(ontifex) M(aximus) .] 

Its author, Paolo Pietro Vegerio (1498-1565), was bishop of Modrusch, then of Capo d’Istria, from which he left to join the Reformation around 1549. In it he paints a picture of three bishops advising Pope Julius II on the best way to reestablish the authority of the papacy. Among the advice they give him is the introduction of new ceremonies (which are described in intricate detail) as well as the destruction of Bibles translated into any living languages.

“This text is one of many works published by Vegerio as part of the violent polemics by which he opposed the papacy after his break with the Church of Rome [the librarian quotes a German study written in 1893]. It has since been used in numerous debates between Catholics and Protestants. It is thus that extracts from the original booklet-all more or less altered from the French translation-were published by Paul Besson in his Consultation de trois évêques sur les moyens de soutenir l’Eglise romaine présentés au pape Jules II en 1553, [Consultation of three bishops on the means of supporting the Roman Church presented to Pope Julius II in 1553] Rouillac, 1884 (extract from Witness to the Truth), as well as by the journal Truth, published in Jerusalem, in its edition of November 3, 1911. We do not have a copy of this journal in the National Library of France.

“Since requests similar to yours have been rather common over the years, we have prepared microfiche versions of three different editions of this work, and you may order copies of them from our Photographic Service.” He goes on to list the bibliographic citations for the three Latin and French editions in their library collection, which are available for public inspection.

I found this to be extremely helpful, since it clarifies that this is not (as is claimed) a “historical document” but is merely a creative piece of fiction written by a rebel bishop to mock the papacy and the Catholic Church after his own defection.

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