Editing Sacred Tradition (section)

== Nature and Definition ==
[[Second Vatican Council|Vatican II]] defines Sacred Tradition in *[[Dei Verbum]]* §9: > “Hence there exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity…”

Similarly, *Dei Verbum* §10 emphasizes that the task of authentic interpretation is entrusted to the Church’s living Magisterium: > “The task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.”