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Summary
- The King James Bible is a Protestant translation, made for the Church of England and first published in 1611.
- A Catholic Bible is any complete translation approved by the Holy See or a conference of bishops, and canon 825 asks for explanatory notes as well.
- The 1899 Douay-Rheims (approved by Cardinal Gibbons) and the RSV Catholic Edition (imprimatur 1966) were approved before 1983, so Catholics may use both for prayer and study.
- In the United States the readings at Mass come from the New American Bible; a revision called the Catholic American Bible is due in 2027.
- Catholic Bibles have 73 books and most King James printings have 66, although the 1611 edition did print the deuterocanonical books as Apocrypha.
- The Douay-Rheims was translated from the Latin Vulgate, so it reads “full of grace” in Luke 1:28 and “Do penance” in Matthew 3:2, where the King James and the Catholic NABRE follow the Greek.
- The Church does not forbid Catholics to read the King James Bible, but Catholic writers recommend an approved edition because the King James lacks books read at Mass.
- The New King James Version, published complete in 1982, is not on the US bishops’ list of approved translations.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (Luke 1:28, Matthew 3:2, Genesis 3:15, James 5:14), the Douay-Rheims Bible, 1899 American edition of the Challoner revision (Luke 1:28, Matthew 3:2, Genesis 3:15, James 5:14), and the New American Bible, Revised Edition (Luke 1:28 and Genesis 3:15 with its footnote from bible.usccb.org; Matthew 3:2 and James 5:14 from BibleGateway). King James and Douay-Rheims texts from BibleGateway.
- Code of Canon Law (1983), canons 822–833, canon 825, Holy See.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Approved Translations of the Bible.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Preface to the Revised New American Bible Old Testament.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, New American Bible, Revised Edition, Genesis 3 with footnotes.
- Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible, Revised Edition: imprimatur (1986) and rescript of approval (2010), as printed on BibleGateway.
- OSV News, New English version of Bible to be called The Catholic American Bible, 12 November 2025, reprinted by The Catholic Virginian.
- Liturgy Office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, home page (the new Lectionary in use since the First Sunday of Advent 2024) and Lectionary: Frequently Asked Questions.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, King James Version.
- Cambridge University Library, Great and Manifold Blessings: The Making of the King James Bible (2011), exhibition captions and Towards 1611.
- Bruce M. Metzger, Right and Wrong Uses of the Apocrypha, Christianity Today, 30 September 1957.
- Church Historians Press, historical introduction to Doctrine and Covenants 91, The Joseph Smith Papers (on the Bible societies and the Apocrypha, 1826–1828).
- Church of England, Articles of Religion, Article VI.
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter 1, section 3, as published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
- Council of Trent, Fourth Session, 8 April 1546, trans. J. Waterworth (1848), Hanover Historical Texts Project.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 120, paragraph 1510 and paragraph 2676.
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2005), appendix of common prayers, the Hail Mary in English and Latin.
- Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, 18 November 1965, paragraph 22.
- Joe Paprocki, Why Doesn’t the Catholic Church Recognize the King James Version of the Bible?, Busted Halo, 2017.
- Bernard Ward, Douay Bible, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1909).
- Kevin Di Camillo, Cardinal Gibbons’ Nod To Bishop Challoner, National Catholic Register, 18 October 2018 (the 1899 approbation of the Douay-Rheims).
- Ascension Publishing, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition: copyright and approval page (the 1966 imprimatur of the RSV Catholic Edition).
- Thomas Nelson Bibles, About the NKJV.
- BibleGateway, Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition: version information (the RSV preface and the Catholic Edition copyright of 1965 and 1966).
- International Theological Commission, The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised, 2007, footnote 1 on its use of the RSV Catholic Edition.
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