Leo XIII. and the Bible.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 12, 20 March 1902, Page 1

Leo XIII. and the Bible.

The detractors of the Church are fond of flinging at her the reproach that Rome has never done anything for Biblical studies. The charge, as might easily be shown, was never true, but there never was a time when it was less true than the present. Eight years ago the Pope issued the Encyclical Providentissimns Deus, treating of the reading and study of Sacred Scripture, and this produced a marked movement in the Church in favor of increased attention to technical Biblical studies. The Holy Father has now followed up his Encyclical and given shape to this movement by the appointment of an important Commission for the special consideration of the many modern questions concerning Holy Writ. The names of the leading members of the Commission have already appeared in the columns of the N.Z Tablet. Cardinal Parocchi, the president, is described as having ' strong sympathies with the movement for advanced Scriptural exegesis,' whilst the two other assessors, Cardinal Vives y Tuto and Cardinal Segna, are recognised authorities in the fields of theological and patristic learning. The other ' consultors ' who compose the Commission are Father David Fleming, head of the Order of Friars Minor, secretary; Very Revs. Professor Van Hoonacker, University of Louvain ; Professor Grannan, Washington University; Professor Francassini, Seminary of Perugia; Professor Jorio, Seminary of Valencia, Spain ; Secretary Esser, Sacred Congregation of the Index ; Professor Vigouroux, Paris Institute; Father De Hummelauer, St. Ingnatius's College, Holland ; Father Gismondi, Professor Gregorian University, Rome; Dom Abrose Amelli, Prior of Monte Cassino; Dr. Robert Clarke, Priest, Archdiocese of Westminster; and Dr. D. A. Poels, Diocese of Rouremonde, Holland.

It will be thus seen that the Commission is a comprehensive one, the members being drawn from many different countries, and representing all the various schools and currents of thought. The scope of the inquiry, as stated by the Rome correspondent of the London Tablet, is ' to ascertain the limits of the freedom which is allowed to the Catholic exegetist in the Biblical questions ot the day, to point out definittly the conclusions that must be maintained in the interests of orthodoxy; others that must be rejected as incompatible with or dangerous to divine faith, as well as the debatable ground between the two, where each one is free to hold his own view.' The Presi. dent will convene the meetings which will be held whenever there is sufficient matter in hand to make a discussion or decision desirable. The ' consultors ' who live at a great distance from Rome will make their contributions in writing, but on very special occasions a meeting of the whole body will be held. Already a series of questions have been formulated for study and discussion, but for the present these are not to be made public. All that is known is that modern difficulties are to be fairly and squarely faced, that each 'consultor' will be

asked to speak his mind quite openly and freely, and that a decision will be given wherever it is at all possible. We confess that we hope for great things from this Commission. It promises to be a boon not only to the clergy but to thoughtful laymen in the Church, who, if they are at all given to reading, cannot help having the vexed problems of Old Testament criticism brought more or less prominently before them. The future of the Commission will be watched with intense interest throughout the whole Church.