ShareThis WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Latin American bishops' council have completed another step in a project to develop a universal Spanish-language Bible translation designed to reach Spanish-speaking Catholics in the Americas.

Father Sidney Fones, assistant secretary-general of the council, known as CELAM, and Msgr. David Malloy, general secretary of the USCCB, signed a publications agreement Aug. 25 in the Church in Latin America office at the bishops' conference headquarters in Washington.

The USCCB's annual Collection for the Church in Latin America is funding the project and has pledged to contribute $1 million over 10 years, said Oblate Father Andrew Small, head of the Latin America office. He emphasized the Bible project is being "supported by the American people" through the collection.

Father Fones said the new translation will serve the majority of Spanish-speaking Catholics who cannot understand current Spanish translations of the Bible because they are based on linguistic traditions in Spain.

"Many translations are done in Spain, so for the people here it's very hard to understand them," Father Fones told Catholic News Service. "The fact that it's a Latin American translation is very important; it makes a lot of difference for the people."

Sections of the new translation are to be completed by the beginning of next year and the full translation is to be done by 2015.

Bishops across the Americas will have the opportunity to make sure the translation will communicate the Gospel message to Catholics in their dioceses.

For four years CELAM and the USCCB have been organizing a team of 30 Latin American experts who will translate the Bible. After receiving comment from bishops, the group will make any necessary changes to the text.

"We hope next year to publish the four Gospels in a very simple edition in numbers of 10,000 and we expect to get feedback," Father Fones said.

The project also is a way to acknowledge the increasing number of Spanish-speaking Catholics migrating to the U.S. from different parts of Latin America, said Sister Doris Turek, a School Sister of Notre Dame and multicultural specialist on the staff of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Divine Worship.

The number of Hispanics in the Catholic Church will continue to grow, said Sister Doris, who spoke on behalf of the USCCB after the agreement was signed.

"This project is to have one Bible that everyone can use, so when people come (here) they have the same translation," she said.

In March 2002 the U.S. bishops' Administrative Committee approved formation of an ad hoc committee to formally explore the possibility of creating a new Spanish Bible translation, and CELAM presented the idea at its May 2003 assembly. In 2005 a memorandum of understanding was reached by the USCCB and CELAM, and the process of hiring translators was begun.

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