Appendix A
The Bible Outlawed
It was during the Council of Toulouse that the religious
leaders made their decision to outlaw God’s word. "We prohibit laymen
possessing copies of the Old and New Testament...We forbid them most severely to
have the above books in the popular vernacular." "The lords of the
districts shall carefully seek out the heretics in dwellings, hovels, and
forests, and even their underground retreats shall be entirely wiped out." Concil
Tolosanum, Pope Gregory IX, in the year 1229.
It was again reiterated at the Council of Tarragona that
"No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance
language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local
bishop within eight days after the promulgation of this decree, so that they may
be burned." Histoire de la Bible en France, D.D. Lortsch, 1910,
p.14.
Even after the Reformation commenced and Bible societies were
formed the Catholic Church classified them with Socialism and Communism. On
December 8, 1866, Pope Pius IX made this amazing statement: "Socialism,
Communism, clandestine societies, Bible societies....pests of this sort must be
destroyed by all means." Encyclical Quanta Cura
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