SORSOGON City- The catholic church is neither worried nor bothered by the two latest controversies that have recently surfaced which were both directed at the Catholic faith, the head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission for Biblical Apostolate said.

        “We are secured in our faith,” Commission head Bishop Arturo Bastes said as he dismissed the controversies raised in the Gospel of Judas and the soon-to-be-shown movie, “Da Vinci Code”, as totally baseless.

Council of Trent
        Bastes said the Council of Trent had already defined the exact names of the Books of the Bible that are inspired “and all others are not inspired as they are apocryphal, unauthentic, and not to be used in the church”, in reference to the Gospel of Judas.

        The prelate said even if thousands more gospels are discovered and revealed to the public the Catholic church will no longer accept them, adding that the revelation had been completed already upon the death of the last apostle.

        No one can sway us from the established teachings, he said.

        The Council of Trent was formed in the 16th century, which laid down dogmatic and disciplinary basis for the counter-reformation.

Inspired gospels
        The bishop said only the books that are considered inspired are the basis of the Catholic faith.

        “Nothing can destroy it, nobody can touch it,” he stressed.

        For the Catholic church, an inspired gospel is that which is written by God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit coursed through human beings. The author is both human and divine, Bastes explained.

        The Gospel of Judas was not among these inspired gospels, and as mentioned in the Bible Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples who betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver, he stressed.

        The Catholic faith follows the septuagint which consists of forty-five books as against the thirty-nine books being followed by the Protestants.

No ban for Da Vinci Code
        Bastes said the Catholic church is not likely to seek a ban on the showing of the “Da Vinci Code” movie set to be shown late this month in the country.

        He said public curiosity would only be aroused more if they would call for a ban or boycott of the film.

        “For us it is a nonsense, a mere fiction story for pure entertainment,” he said saying that he didn’t even read the book as it would be a waste of time.

        The story has no biblical basis whatsoever, the Sorsogon bishop added.

        The Opus Dei is set to release a publication seeking to correct both historical and theological inaccuracies mentioned in the book authored by Dan Brown.

        This baseless story and the so-called Gospel of Judas are aimed at destroying the church, the sorsogon bishop pointed out.

The commission
        The Biblical Apostolate Commission is in charge of the propagation of the church dogmas and doctrines based on the Bible.

        The commission is making good one of the church’s main roles, that is to give the people easy access to the Bible and make it available to them all the time.

        The Bible is as important as the Holy Eucharist, Bastes stressed as he urged the public to regularly read it for their holistic development.