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• Bible book is little known, despite being the most translated

The Bible, despite being the book most widely used and translated in the world, with versions in 2,454 languages, remains almost unknown in many countries that call themselves Catholics, according to research commissioned by the Catholic Biblical Federation presented Monday (28) in the Vatican.

The participants were 13 thousand people in nine countries. Only 14% of Italian respondents gave correct answers to basic questions of knowledge about the Bible as "The Gospels are part of the Bible?", "Jesus wrote books of the Bible?" and "Who, between Moses and Paul, was a character in the Old Testament?".

The results were not much better in other countries: 17% knew the answers in the United States and England, 15% in Germany, 11% in France and 8% in Spain. The highest rated were the Poles, with 20% of correct answers, and the worst were the Russians, with 7% of correct answers.

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Bible book is little known, despite being the most translated
Da Ansa
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 28 (UPI) - The Bible, despite being the book most widely used and translated in the world, with versions in 2,454 languages, remains almost unknown in many countries that call themselves Catholics, according to research commissioned by the Catholic Biblical Federation presented Monday (28) in the Vatican.

The participants were 13 thousand people in nine countries: the United States, Britain, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Russia. Only 14% of Italian respondents gave correct answers to basic questions of knowledge about the Bible as "The Gospels are part of the Bible?", "Jesus wrote books of the Bible?" and "Who, between Moses and Paul, was a character in the Old Testament?".

The results were not much better in other countries: only 17% knew the answers in the United States and England, 15% in Germany, 11% in France and 8% in Spain. The highest rated were the Poles, with 20% of correct answers, and the worst were the Russians, with 7% of correct answers.

Nevertheless, 75% of Americans said they read passages from the Bible in the last 12 months, and only 27% of Italians said the same. France and Spain had respectively 21% and 20% of readers of the Bible.

As for attending church, 32% of Italians said they do so, compared to 55% of Poles and 45% of Americans. Among the Russian Orthodox Catholics, only 6% goes to Mass every Sunday.

Most respondents said they had the feeling of having God's protection: 86% of Americans, 79% of Poles and Italians, 78% Russians and 65% of Spaniards, and that France had the lowest number with only 47%.

For 34% of Poles, 27% of Americans, 23% of Italians and 21% of Russians, the biblical texts should be considered the "word of God" and therefore be interpreted literally rather than critically .

The Bible has translated versions for 2,454 languages, but the full translation (including the Old and New Testament) is only available in 438 languages. The New Testament was translated into 1168 languages and 848 other languages have at least one biblical book.