‍Catholics don't really believe the Bible is inspired and without error

  Gary Hoge  ·  October 1, 2026

‍On the contrary, this is one of the many points we have in common with Protestants. Both sides agree that the Bible is divinely inspired and that God is its author. Consider this statement from the Second Vatican Council document Dei Verbum:

‍For [the Church] … holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author….

‍Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation.¹

‍In other words, the Catholic Church explicitly teaches both the divine inspiration and the inerrancy of Scripture. Because Scripture is the word of God himself, “the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life.”²

‍In fact, the Church holds Scripture in such high regard that Dei Verbum calls it, together with Sacred Tradition, “the supreme rule of faith,” since the inspired Scriptures “impart the word of God Himself without change” and “make the voice of the Holy Spirit resound in the words of the prophets and Apostles.”³ 

‍Whatever differences Catholics and Protestants may have about Scripture, they agree that it is divinely inspired and that God is its author.

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^‍1 Dei Verbum, §11, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html.

^‍2 Ibid, §21.

^‍3 Ibid, §21.