Slovenian scholars celebrated a major achievement with the launch of a new complete translation of the Bible, the Catholic Jerusalem edition, which will complement the previous ecumenical edition.

Work on the new, eighth Slovenian translation of the Bible, started in 2006, ten years after the annotated translation based on the French Ecumenical Edition was completed to replace the first Slovenian Ecumenical Edition from 1974.

The latest edition is an official translation of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia, which its editor Jože Krašovec described as a literary translation from original languages.

The introductions, notes, references and appendices have been taken from the French Jerusalem edition, which is considered the most influential Catholic translation of the Bible since WWII and has also been translated and adapted into languages such as English, German, Italian, Spanish and Croatian.

"Like France and many other countries, Slovenia now has two annotated translations, which in many ways complement each other, refining our religious and cultural space," Krašovec said at the 12 March launch at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU).

"This gives us two paradigms of translation and commentary on the Bible, which have characterised the whole history of Judaism and Christianity from antiquity to the present day," he added.

Running to almost 2,900 pages, the monumental work is illustrated with images from the treasure trove of ancient Christian mosaic art with biblical motifs; art historian Damijan Prelovšek contributed the photographs.

Before coming out in a single volume, the translation had been published in individual volumes since 2010.

The launch was attended by Catholic dignitaries and representatives of the SAZU and the universities of Ljubljana and Maribor.

Oto Luthar, director of ZRC SAZU, underlined the importance of the latest and previous translations of the Bible for the development of the Slovenian language. "Everyone must know the Bible, whatever their faith. The new translation is worthy of every attention," he said.

"The new translation of the Bible will help us bring God's word into our daily lives in a more understandable way," said Bishop Andrej Saje, the head of the Slovenian Bishops' Conference.

The work is the product of eight translators. It was published by Družina, the publisher behind the Catholic weekly of the same name, in cooperation with the Slovenian Bishops' Conference.

The project was financially supported by the Public Book Agency and Renovabis, a charitable organization of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany.

An online version of the new translation is in the pipeline.