Hi Passinby,
It’s not that the Church believes everyone is uneducated - remember that that many of the Apostles were fishermen; not a career that requires a lot of reading. But those fishermen could still read and write, and in more than one language. The notion that everyone but priests could read and write is not historically accurate. Nonetheless, at different times throughout the history of Europe literacy was not what it is today, and that’s one of the reasons emphasis was placed on the Gospel readings during the preist’s sermon.
St. Peter warns us against private interpretations "lest we wrest from scripture" that which will lead to our destruction. Even priests are not to make their private interpretations public, and must assent to the teachings of the church regarding scripture. Martin Luther was a Catholic priest before he went wild with his personal and erroneous interpretations which have led countless souls away from the One Fold. Being that there are over 12,000 different Protestant sects in the U.S. alone, one must admit that St. Peter and the Church are right on.