The Catholic Church teaches that Sacred Scripture, having been composed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has God as its author and is therefore free from error in all that the sacred writers intended to affirm for the sake of our salvation (Dei Verbum §11). This formulation, refined at Vatican II to clarify that inerrancy applies to what the inspired authors positively asserted (not to incidental cultural or historical details), remains the official Catholic position.

The correct interpretation of Scripture belongs to the Church's Magisterium, which interprets it in light of Sacred Tradition and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Catholic biblical interpretation follows the four senses of Scripture (literal, allegorical, moral, anagogical) articulated in the medieval tradition. Historical-critical methods are endorsed as tools for understanding the human dimension of Scripture, while the divine dimension—and the unity of the biblical narrative culminating in Christ—requires theological and faith-filled reading within the Church.