Counsels, Creeds and Confessions of Rome and The Reformers Part 3

From the 1200s to the 1800s, Papal leaders openly condemned the reading of the Bible in the language of the common people and even persecuted those caught with copies of the Scriptures in their possession.
At the Council of Toulouse (1229 A.D), papal church leaders ruled: "We prohibit laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testament ... We forbid them most severely to have the above books in the popular vernacular." "'The lords of the districts shall carefully seek out the heretics in dwellings, hovels, and forests, and even their underground retreats shall be entirely wiped out." Pope Gregory IX, Council Tolosanum, 1229 A.D.
The Roman Catholic Council of Tarragona also ruled that: "No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after the promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned." D. Lortsch, Histoire de la Bible en France, 1910, p. 14.
The Council of Trent (1545-1564) placed the Bible on its list of prohibited books, and forbade any person to read the Bible without a license from a Roman Catholic bishop or inquisitor. The Council added these words: "That if any one shall dare to read or keep in his possession that book, without such a license, he shall not receive absolution till he has given it up to his ordinary."
All Christians have been commanded to know the Word and proclaim the Gospel, But through out all history Satan has had the false trying to destroy the true. We have always been in a war against Satan and His children, and that will not end. This was not any different in the Fourteenth century.