The Church has always acknowledged literal, word-for-word translation as the way to translate the Catholic Bible. Up until the 20th century no other method was even considered... (More below)

In 2001, the Vatican issued an official Instruction, Liturgiam authenticam, which made its desire explicit: no fewer than five times does it call for literal translation of liturgical texts. This document mandated our new translation of the Mass. Why such a dramatic directive? Loose translations of liturgical texts were clearly unfaithful to the original texts, and this had to be corrected once and for all... This unacceptability and consequent rejection of liberal translation in the liturgy, we hold, likewise applies implicitly to translation of the Bible. What does this mean for the average Catholic? It means that he or she should start using a literal translation of the Catholic Bible. There are only two translations of the Catholic Bible in English that are literal translations: the classic Douay-Rheims Version and the more recent Catholic Revised Standard Version: the best of the old and the best of the new! Let’s take a quick look at each version…

The Catholic Revised Standard Version (also known as the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition or RSV-CE for short) is acclaimed by many as the most accurate Catholic Bible. The Catholic Revised Standard Version is used by the Vatican in all the official English translations of its documents, including the Catechism of the Catholic Church. On the other hand, the Douay-Rheims Version is considered by many to be the safest, most traditional and most trustworthy Catholic Bible. (More below)

The Douay-Rheims Version is the translation, in slightly older English, of St. Jerome’s Vulgate, the official Latin translation of the Bible that was used in the Roman Catholic Church for about 1,500 years. The Church has given the Latin Vulgate the highest possible praise many times over the centuries, and has guaranteed that it and hence an accurate translation of it like the Douay-Rheims Version are free from error in matters of faith and morals. This is an important point to consider.

For many, many more reasons why the Catholic Revised Standard Version and the Douay-Rheims Version are the best Catholic Bibles, click on the “Why the Best?” tab at the top of the page. Which one is for you? We respectfully leave that up to you …  

Fortunately, you don't need to look further! You’ve found the site with the largest selection available of Catholic Revised Standard Version Bibles and Douay-Rheims Bibles.

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