VATICAN CITY — Tendency to read the Bible through the lens of "fundamentalism" threatens to undermine Catholics’ understanding of Scripture, the Vatican said June 12.
The statement appears in the agenda for the next general assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will bring prelates to Rome in October to consider the "importance of the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church."
The 86-page document released June 12 emphasizes the need to increase Catholics’ knowledge and understanding of Scripture. While encouraging the faithful to read the Bible either alone or in study groups, it stresses that all interpretation must be in light of church teaching.
"Fundamentalism takes refuge in literalism and refuses to take into consideration the historical dimension of biblical revelation," the document states.
"This kind of interpretation is winning more and more adherents … even among Catholics," the agenda’s authors add, quoting an earlier Vatican document.
"It demands an unshakable adherence to rigid doctrinal points of view and imposes, as the only source of teaching for Christian life and salvation, a reading of the Bible which rejects all questioning and any kind of critical research."
Fundamentalism in its "extreme form" exists in "the sects," the document states.
The term "sects" refers to "marginal" Protestant churches that do not participate in dialogue with Rome, explained the synod’s general secretary, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, at a press conference to present the document.
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