Questions / The Bible

Do Catholics take the Bible literally?

Church teaching

Answered on video by Catholic Answers

Video: How do Catholics interpret the Bible?, Catholic Answers Live, published Feb 3, 2015. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube

In short: Seriously, not like a robot. You ask what the human author actually meant, then the deeper senses that build on it. CCC 109 CCC 115 CCC 116

The answer, in writing

Church teaching

To read Scripture rightly, you pay attention to what the human authors truly wanted to say and what God wanted to reveal by their words. CCC 109

The Church distinguishes the literal sense and the spiritual senses, and all the other senses are based on the literal. CCC 115 CCC 116

Our words

Literally doesn’t mean woodenly. Poetry is read as poetry, history as history, parable as parable. Seriously, always; robotically, never.

Watch another on this

Play video: Who Compiled the Bible—and When? | Catholic Answers, Catholic Answers, from Catholic Answers, 1 min. Loads from YouTube when pressed.

Who decided which books are in the Bible?

Play video: Bishop Barron on How to Read the Bible, Bishop Robert Barron, from Bishop Robert Barron, 8 min. Loads from YouTube when pressed.

Do Catholics read the Bible?

Play video: Where Is Purgatory in the Bible? | Dr. Brant Pitre, Dr. Brant Pitre, from Catholic Productions, 14 min. Loads from YouTube when pressed.

Where is purgatory in the Bible?

Next step: Open the Bible

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Related questions

Who decided which books are in the Bible? Catholic Answers · 1 minDo Catholics read the Bible? Bishop Robert Barron · 8 minHow does someone become a canonized saint? Fr. Mike Schmitz · 7 minWho wrote the New Testament? Dr. Brant Pitre · 10 min

Sources on this page

How we know · 3 Catechism paragraphs

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 109, 115, 116 (official text on vatican.va).

Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words and cites every teaching claim. Our own wording is not an official Church text. Found a mistake? Report an errorCorrections.