5 Great praise is due to the Scottish nation, as a whole, that they have always shown reverence and love for the Inspired Writings. They cannot therefore be unwilling to listen to a few words which in Our affection We would address to them on this subject with a view to their eternal welfare; since We find that in revering the Sacred Scriptures, they are in agreement with the Catholic Church. Why then should this not be the starting-point for a return to unity? We beg them to remember that they have the Books of the Old Covenant and of the Newfrom the Catholic Church and from the Catholic Church alone. If these InspiredWritings have passed unscathed through the many and dangerous vicissitudes ofcenturies, such a blessing is to be attributed to her never-failing vigilanceand unceasing care. History attests that in the early ages of the Church theintegrity of the Scriptures was preserved by the ever-memorable efforts of theThird Synod at Carthage and of Innocent I, the Roman Pontiff. At a later time noless watchfulness was shown, as we know, by Eugenius IV and by the Council ofTrent. We Ourselves, not unmindful of the necessities of the present day,published a short while ago an Encyclical Letter in which We gravely addressedthe Bishops of the Catholic world and diligently admonished them as to the meansto be adopted in order to safeguard the integrity and the Divine authority ofthe Sacred Writings. For owing to the restlessness of modern thought, there aremany whom the inordinate desire of superciliously inquiring into everything, andcontempt for antiquity, pervert to such a degree, that they either refuse allauthority to Holy Writ, or at least seriously curtail and minimize it. Thesemen, puffed up by an exaggerated estimate of their own knowledge, and having anoverweening trust in their own judgment, fail to perceive how rash and monstrousit is to try to measure the works of God by our own puny intelligence; nor dothey sufficiently heed St. Augustine's warning: "Honour God's Scripture,honour God's Word though not understood, reverently wait in order tounderstand" (in Ps. 146, n. 12). "Those who study the VenerableScriptures ought to be admonished . . . that they must pray in order tocomprehend." (Doct. Chr. lib. iii., c. 37, n. 56.) "Lest anythingunknown be rashly asserted as known . . . let nothing be rashly asserted, butall things cautiously and modestly examined" (in Gen. Op. Imp.).
Source: Caritatis Studium (Vatican.va)