The canon of Scripture is the Church's authoritative list of inspired books: the Old Testament used by Our Lord and the Apostles, the Greek Septuagint with its 46 books, was received by the Church and confirmed with the New Testament by Pope St. Damasus and the Councils of Hippo and Carthage, and the list was closed by Pope St. Innocent I. Since only the Church's authority assures us which books are the Word of God, it is a contradiction to accept the Bible while rejecting her teaching office; as St. Augustine said, he would not believe the Gospels unless the authority of the Catholic Church moved him to.Listen with the full transcriptGo to episodeSermon of the Day podcast