The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic Biblical Federation. The year 2020 marks the 1600th anniversary of the death of Saint Jerome, the great translator of the Bible, who tried to convert Scripture into the everyday and "common" language of simple people, to make the Word of God accessible. to all. His zeal to make Scripture accessible to people stems from his conviction: "ignorantia Scripturarum ignorantia Christi est" (ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ).
The happy coincidence of these two anniversaries motivated the Executive Committee of the CBF to encourage its members to celebrate the year 2020 as a "Year of the Word of God", beginning on the first Sunday of Advent (December 1, 2019) until the feast of San Jerónimo (September 30, 2020). We hope that a year dedicated to the Word of God will help pastors and institutions engaged in biblical ministry in their countries to renew their efforts to place the Word of God at the center of the life and mission of the Church. This is what Saint John Paul II wanted (see Tertio Millennio Adveniente 36), Pope Benedict XVI in light of the 2008 Synod of Bishops (see Verbum Domini 73) and more recently Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium (see §174).
January 26, 2022