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The importance of the literal sense was emphasized by St. [[Thomas Aquinas]] in his recognition that “all the senses are founded on one—the literal—from which alone can any argument be drawn, and not from those intended in allegory.”<ref>Pope Pius XII, ''Divino Afflante Spiritu'' (1943), no. 33, translated National Catholic Welfare Conference, in The Bible Documents: A Parish Resource (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2001), 22. 2  Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church  (1993), no. 131, in The Bible Documents, 162. 3  Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.) (Washington, DC: Libreria Editrice Vaticana–United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2000), no. 116.</ref> This importance was reiterated in [[Pope Pius XII]]’s long delayed exhortation to Catholic biblical scholars: “let the Catholic exegete undertake the task, of all those imposed on him the greatest, that namely of discovering and expounding the genuine meaning of the Sacred Books. In the performance of this task let the interpreters bear in mind that their foremost and greatest endeavor should be to discern and define clearly that sense of the biblical words which is called literal.”<ref>''Divino Afflante Spiritu''</ref>

The importance of the literal sense was emphasized by St. [[Thomas Aquinas]] in his recognition that “all the senses are founded on one—the literal—from which alone can any argument be drawn, and not from those intended in allegory.”<ref>Pope Pius XII, ''Divino Afflante Spiritu'' (1943), no. 33, translated National Catholic Welfare Conference, in The Bible Documents: A Parish Resource (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2001), 22. 2  Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church  (1993), no. 131, in The Bible Documents, 162. 3  Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.) (Washington, DC: Libreria Editrice Vaticana–United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2000), no. 116.</ref> This importance was reiterated in [[Pope Pius XII]]’s long delayed exhortation to Catholic biblical scholars: “let the Catholic exegete undertake the task, of all those imposed on him the greatest, that namely of discovering and expounding the genuine meaning of the Sacred Books. In the performance of this task let the interpreters bear in mind that their foremost and greatest endeavor should be to discern and define clearly that sense of the biblical words which is called literal.”<ref>''Divino Afflante Spiritu''</ref>

Catholic biblical studies had long been hampered by [[exegesis]] limited to the text of the [[Vulgate]] alone through a too literal understanding of the canons of the [[Council of Trent]] regarding which of the various Latin versions should be the officially legitimate Latin version of the Bible which would henceforth be held as the definitive Latin version for the Catholic Church (there had been other Latin versions)—“no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever.”<ref>[http://www.bible-researcher.com/trent1.html Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent The Fourth Session. Celebrated on the eighth day of the month of April, in the year 1546. English translation by James Waterworth (London, 1848) Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures] “—ordains and declares, that the said old and vulgate edition, which, by the lengthened usage of so many ages, has been approved of in the Church, be, in public lectures, disputations, sermons and expositions, held as authentic; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever.”</ref>—and by a perceived suspicion of the results of what are now called modern methods of hermeneutics, due to the illicit abuse of legitimate critical methods by liberal scholars, many of them Protestant and anti-Catholic. This had been long perceived as a danger to the Catholic faith. Apparently encouraged by the results of conservative biblical research by Evangelical scholarship and the observations and promptings of Catholic biblical scholars joined to his own scholarly studies, Pope Pius XII officially opened the door to the "proper use" of the tools of biblical criticism by Catholic exegetes and educational institutions of biblical studies.

Catholic biblical studies had long been hampered by [[exegesis]] limited to the text of the [[Vulgate]] alone through a too literal understanding of the canons of the [[Council of Trent]] regarding which of the various Latin versions should be the officially legitimate Latin version of the Bible which would henceforth be held as the definitive Latin version for the Catholic Church (there had been other Latin versions)—“no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever.”<ref>[http://www.bible-researcher.com/trent1.html Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent The Fourth Session. Celebrated on the eighth day of the month of April, in the year 1546. English translation by James Waterworth (London, 1848) Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures] “—ordains and declares, that the said old and vulgate edition, which, by the lengthened usage of so many ages, has been approved of in the Church, be, in public lectures, disputations, sermons and expositions, held as authentic; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever.”</ref>—and by a perceived suspicion of the results of what are now called modern methods of hermeneutics, due to the illicit abuse of legitimate critical methods by liberal scholars, many of them Protestant and anti-Catholic. This had been long perceived as a danger to the Catholic faith. Apparently encouraged by the results of conservative biblical research by Evangelical scholarship and the observations and promptings of Catholic biblical scholars joined to his own scholarly studies, Pope Pius XII officially opened the door to the "proper use" of the tools of biblical criticism by Catholic exegetes and educational institutions of biblical studies. Study of other ancient versions and texts was correctly understood as not implying a rejection of the Vulgate.

See [[Hermeneutics]].

See [[Hermeneutics]].