SPIRITUS PARACLITUS. - Encyclical of Pope Benedict XV, published on Sept. 15, 1920 (AAS, 12 [1920], pp. 385-422 and Denz-U, nos. 2186-2188) to celebrate the 15th centenary of the death of St. Jerome (v.), of fundamental importance for Catholic biblical science. It occupies an intermediate place between the Providentissimus Deus (v.), of Nov. 18, 1893, and the Divino afflante Spiritu (v.), of Sept. 30, 1943, and gives the full solution of the biblical question.
If the Providentissimus eliminates the attempts to limit the inspiration (v.) of Holy Scripture, if the Divino afflante Spiritu gives ample scope for methodical research concerning the hagiographers or "instrumental authors" of the Bible and the literary genres (v.) used by them, the S. P. gives the most energetic affirmation of the absolute, total, unfailing truth of the Bible. It eliminates the distinction between the religious element called primary and the human element called secondary, maintaining that inerrancy (v.), the primary effect of inspiration, extends simply to everything that, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the instrumental author willed to affirm, insinuate, say. It then eliminates the equally unfortunate distinction between absolute truth and relative or even economic truth among the different parts of the Bible. Relative truth is that which is not truth in itself, but only with respect to the outmoded ideas of those times. Consequently the S. P. condemns the theory of historical appearances, which had been the object of long discussions even among Catholics, and resolves the controversy concerning the interpretation of a passage of the Providentissimus. It warns against other attempts to undermine the absolute truth of the Bible by the exaggeration of principles that are in themselves just, such as the too rash and too extensive supposition of implicit citations (v.), of historical narratives that are only apparent (e.g., midhrā, popular tales, novels, etc.), of literary genres incompatible with the integral truth of the Word of God, or of opinions concerning the origin of certain biblical books (especially of the Fourth Gospel) that diminish their human authority and destroy their divine authority: he would be in error who said that St. John mixes the sayings and deeds of Jesus with his own personal views or with those of another Christian generation.
Once the dogmatic teachings are finished, already preceded by several decrees of the Biblical Commission, the S. P. exhorts all to a great love for the word of God, speaks of the intellectual and moral virtues required for its study, recommends the daily reading of the Bible by the faithful and gives most useful advice for preaching: pastors must nourish the flock, in all the vicissitudes of life, with a spiritual food drawn chiefly from the literal sense of the Bible. With this the encyclical encourages the biblical movements that arose in Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and elsewhere, and were begun also in Italy; it especially promotes the Pious Society of St. Jerome (v.).
The encyclical S. P. has special value for the present time, in which the absolute truth of the Bible is attacked more harshly than ever: a) with the elimination of mythology (such would be Christianity in its mysteries; v.
STRAUSS, D. F.) by R. Bultmann (v. VANGELO), which so greatly troubles world Protestantism; b) with the elimination even of every central message (kerygma) of the Bible, undertaken by the Swiss theologian F. Buri; c) with the elimination of the mysteries (Sacraments) from the New Testament text made by Markus Barth, son of the well-known Karl Barth. In the three cases it is a matter of a final attack of modern rationalism and mythism against the truth of the Bible. They want to erase from the Bible: the transcendent truths, the message of the cross and resurrection, the Sacraments fundamental for the new life of the beloved children of God (e.g., by making people believe with dialectical artifices that in the New Testament there is no passage that speaks of Baptism as a Sacrament). In the face of such truly subversive attempts the S. P., which could be called the Catholic hymn to the absolute and intangible Truth of the Bible, is a continual call to order: namely that the Bible contains a truth above the rash dreams of current mythism, above rationalistic pride.
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Pietro Nober