The Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation has approved a new Urdu translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and authorised its publication by the Pakistan Episcopal Conference. The Council praised the Urdu translation as a significant step in the mission of the Church in Pakistan.
The translation work took 13 years and was undertaken by Emmanuel Neno, executive secretary of the Pakistan Episcopal Commission for Catechetics, and Australian Columban Fr Robert McCulloch, who was based in Pakistan for 34 years and now works for the Missionary Society of St Columban in Rome.
Officials of the Pakistan Government’s Board for the National Language have praised the translation project for its engagement between the culture and language of Urdu and Catholic doctrine and theology.
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and an official language of six Indian states. There are more than 2.5 million Christians in Pakistan, of whom Catholics comprise a substantial majority. Fr McCulloch hopes that the translation will foster inter-religious dialogue.
At Christmas, the full papal midnight Mass from the Vatican was carried on the Pakistani television channel Geo TV for the first time, with commentary in Urdu.
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