If Catholics aren't Supposed to Read the Bible, How Come We're Told to Read the Bible?

This post is an excerpt from the one I just finished: "The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Citing my Sources, the Bible, and All That" (May 31, 2010). The point about Catholics and the Bible is pretty important - and I figured it deserved a post of its own:

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The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a pretty good guide for what the Catholic faith is about. Happily, there's an official English translation. Rather early in the book, there's this instruction about Catholics and the Bible:

" 'And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting font of spiritual life.'¹⁰⁹ Hence 'access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful.'¹¹⁰

" 'Therefore, the "study of the sacred page" should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too—pastoral preaching, catechetics, and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place—is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture.'¹¹¹

" 'The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn "the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,' by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. 'Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ." ' ¹¹²"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 131-133)

Why all those footnotes and links? The ones in that excerpt from the Catechism are in the online version — and help the faithful look up who said what, in which resource, and often when.

It's the same reason we have links to passages from the Bible.

Which practicing Catholics are "forcefully and specifically" exhorted to read.