Divino Afflante Spiritus, Pius XII, September 30, 1943
... discern and define that sense of the biblical words which is called literal ... so that the mind of the author may be made
clear. ... the exegete must be principally concerned with
the literal sense of the Scriptures.
The definition of the literal sense:
The sense which the human author directly intended
and
which his words convey.
