Commission biblique pontificale
When at the initiative of Pope Leo XIII the Pontifical Biblical Commission was set up to counter the new difficulties in biblical exegesis, Van Hoonacker was one of the first seven members appointed (18 September 1901). Although somewhat reluctant and sceptical about this appointment, he did engage himself. Van Hoonacker drafted various proposals for documents to be prepared by the Commission, especially concerning the question of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and the origins of Acts.