What's forbidden in the Bible is the worship of statues. In ancient times, the common people may actually have worshipped the statues themselves. But no thinking person ever did this. Even in ancient times, what was worshipped by intelligent people was the god or goddess which the statue represented.
In the Catholic Church, images are not worshipped. The saints or angels or whatever which they represent are not worshipped, either -- they are venerated, which is a completely different thing. The statue or image, such as a painting, provides a useful way to interact with these sacred beings. For example, through the image of Mary you interact with the spirit of Mary.
To deny all images of any kind, for any purpose, is fanatical. In fact, it's next door to nuts. You see this sort of fanaticism in Muslims, and also in Baptists. Some Baptists won't even keep a cross. But when you eliminate images, you eliminate the prime avenue by which you can easily communicate with the sacred spirits they represent. Images provide a focus for prayer. That is why their use was universal across the ancient world, and why they are still used across almost all the modern world.
By the way, I should add that Baptists worship the Bible. This is idolatrous, since the Bible is a book -- a thing. Baptists would quickly say, "We don't worship the book, we worship what the book contains, the word of God." But good luck convincing them that Catholics don't worship a statue of Jesus, they worship the divine person the statue represents.
Deuteronomy 18
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
‘necromancer’ ( וְדֹרֵ֖שׁ אֶל־ הַמֵּתִֽים׃ ) = one who calls up the dead.
Deuteronomy 4 KJV
12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Warning against Idolatry.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Acts 4
11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
1 Timothy 2
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
John 6
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Doesn't this strike you as just a little bit fanatical? I mean, if we followed these verses, we wouldn't have any pictures of anything, or statues. Even the crazy Muslims use cameras and computers, which make images of people and beasts. I think it's obvious that we need to apply an interpretation to these verses -- a filter that explains their correct meaning -- just as the commandment "Do not kill" in the Ten Commandments actually means "Do not commit murder." So the commandments not to create images actually mean "Do not create images that you are going to worship as gods, thereby depriving me, your God, of your proper worship."
“let God be true, but every man a liar”
God seems to be very clear on the matter of graven images, and takes many opportunities to make it clear to us; we are not to make images and bow down to them.
Isaiah 44 KJV
9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
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