The translation and dissemination of the Bible, which have been carried out so far, have been "extremely valuable". "However, a lot remains to be done". For this reason, "confronted by the urgency of spreading the Bible", the two best-known bodies, the Catholic Biblical Federation and the United Bible Societies, "despite being very different bodies", signed in the Vatican this morning during the Episcopal Synod on "God’s Word" a cooperation agreement for the translation and dissemination of the Bible. In presenting this initiative, mgr. Vincenzo Paglia, bishop of Terni and president of the Catholic Biblical Federation in a speech handed out to the press by the Vatican news room and available on the website of the Holy See (www.vatican.va) , gave a few figures: "If we consider that the Biblical Societies have handed out about 26 million Bibles in 2006, it means we have reached just 1 or 2 percent of the 2 billion Christians". In addition, added Paglia, "the Bible has already been translated into 2,454 different languages (in full into 438, the New Testament only into 1168, and just a few books, such as the Gospels or the Psalms, into another 848); there are still another 4,500 languages that still wait to be confronted by the Holy Scriptures". (continued)
