Cape Verde's Catholic Church begins process of translating the Bible into Kriolu
The Catholic Church in Cape Verde will begin work in September to translate the Bible into Kriolu by 2033. The project will involve specialists and will be preceded by a national debate on the language variant to be adopted.
In September 2025, the Catholic Church in Cape Verde will begin work on the full translation of the Bible into Creole, in a long-term project that should be completed by 2033. The aim is to make the sacred texts more accessible to the Cape Verdean faithful through the use of their mother tongue.
"We have already decided to go ahead with the translation. In September we will draw up a timetable and promote an uncomplicated debate at national level," said the project's coordinator, Father José Eduardo Afonso, in statements to Lusa. The national debate will serve to capture society's reactions and involve the population in the process.
During this initial period, working subcommittees will also be created that will act autonomously in translating the biblical texts. One of the main challenges already identified is the choice of the variant of Kriolu to be used, given the linguistic diversity between the islands of the archipelago.
"Most reactions on social media question which variant will be used. If it's not possible to create a common one, we'll have to make a decision. But everything will be studied seriously and on the basis of research," said Father Afonso.
In recent years, there have been informal attempts to adapt the Bible into Kriolu, but without technical rigor, made by priests without specific training in the original languages of the sacred texts. "These priests were pastoralists, they were not specialists in Sacred Scripture, nor in the Greek language, which is the original language in which the New Testament was written," he explained.
According to the coordinator, the current project will be different: "Now we have trained priests who know Greek and Hebrew, we have theologians, archaeologists, linguists and anthropologists who will be able to make a decisive contribution in a work of this nature."
The translation of the Bible into Kriolu is seen as a cultural and spiritual milestone, with the potential to strengthen Cape Verde's linguistic and religious identity.
