Question

Why do you think the Catholic Church was so committed to defending the literal meaning of the Bible passages

Answer 1

It is because they believe that Jesus handed down the bible to them and they have to protect it.

Answer 2

The Catholic Church was so committed to defending the literal meaning of the Bible passages because they feared that if people did not have faith in exactly what the Bible said, then overtime they would begin to lose faith in the religion as a whole. Basically, they thought that not following the Bible word for word would weaken the religion's control.