“[E]verything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit”
*
Dei Verbum* 11
And since the Holy Spirit is God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived, whatever is affirmed by the Holy Spirit is free from error.
This resonates with Encyclical
Providentissimus Deus 20:
It is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true.
For this reason, Pope Leo states,
t is absolutely wrong and forbidden
, either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture, or
to admit that the sacred writer has erred. It is wrong to admit that the sacred writer has erred, precisely because everything
asserted by the sacred writer is asserted by the Holy Spirit, and everything asserted by the Holy Spirit is free from error.
So, for example, *if *the sacred writer asserts that Simon of Cyrene is the father of Alexander and Rufus (Cf. Mark 15:21),
then we are to understand that the Holy Spirit asserts that, too. And thus, that assertion is free from error, even though it’s a historical assertion that lacks an apparent salvific significance.
Therefore, everything asserted by the sacred authors is “that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation” (Cf.
Dei Verbum 11).
We have no indication that the assertions made by the sacred writer are limited to assertions of faith and morals. On the contrary, Leo XIII cautions,
For the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of these difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond
, because (as they wrongly think) in a question of the truth or falsehood of a passage, we should consider not so much what God has said as the reason and purpose which He had in mind in saying it-
this system cannot be tolerated. Emphasis added
