A global network of Bible Societies called The United Bible Societies celebrated translating the Bible into 49 different languages last year.

Michael Perreau, the charity’s director, told Premier about why it’s important the translation of Bibles continues despite the difficulties in doing so.

“When I read the Bible in my mother tongue, it goes to my heart. It resonates deep into my soul,” he said during Premier’s News Hour.

“And that’s a big difference when we have languages that we have been brought up which we live around – wrap and surround our lives with – that’s a big difference.”

As languages change and develop over time, the Bible Societies have been challenged with to revising existing translations or providing new translations, when requested.

This resulted in 2017 to 26 new translations and revisions, plus nine study editions.

Perreau encouraged people to remember the translators in their prayers as they are “really the Bible heroes”.

The United Bible Societies is currently involved in other projects to ensure as many people as possible can read the Bible.

In 2017, Bible Societies in 32 countries ran Braille projects and there are 26 active sign language projects, with ten more in the planning and preparation stages.

Listen to Michael Perreau speaking with Premier’s Eno Adeogun:

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Alice Roberts, a University of Birmingham professor, broadcaster and author criticised the zoo in comments on Twitter on Sunday.

I honestly don’t see how a zoo like this can win awards and say it supports education when it’s so blatantly, openly creationist & anti-science! “We think that evidence shows the world is much older than 6000 years but much younger than 4.5 billion years.” https://t.co/VAxqfgdv63

— Prof Alice Roberts (@theAliceRoberts) March 11, 2018

Anthony Bush, one of the owners of Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, told Premier she has criticised the zoo before but he doesn’t know why she does it.

“Alice Roberts has had a go at us before”, he said.

“I like Alice Roberts. She lives in our parish. She sends her child to our church school and yet she seems to have a go at me for some reason. It’s sort of a slight mystery as to what she’s got against us.”

Noah’s Ark Zoo has won numerous awards including The national ‘Quality Badge’ from the Learning Outside the Classroom Scheme and the Gold Award in the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

The zoo prides itself on being “a unique hands-on zoo” that celebrates “the wonders of creation”.

Its website states: “Did life arise naturally or supernaturally? Can undirected, random processes result in complex life forms or is there evidence to support the notion of a Creator? Can we reconcile our knowledge of evolution and a belief…

While the Vatican’s Secretary of State praised him for a papal term marked by “joy”, Catholic figures in the UK hailed the 81-year-old as a reformer who has improved perceptions.

Catholic journalist Austen Ivereigh said Francis has made the Church’s governing body more open and dynamic, while placing a greater emphasis on pastoral care.

Setting out another change during the Argentinian’s papacy, he added: “He’s introduced a free-wheeling news conference on the papal plane coming back from his trips.

“In his first big foreign trip in July 2013, he stood in front of the world’s media for an hour and a half – and they literally asked him anything they wanted – and of course that generated a huge amount of headlines.

“There’s no question that he’s fascinated the world, he’s fascinated the news media; that’s really his single greatest accomplishment, to make the Church exciting, dynamic and interesting in many ways to the world outside the Church.”

Issuing his own tribute to Francis, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said: “I would like to say that the fundamental characteristic of this Pontificate is precisely joy, a joy that does not arise evidently from carelessness, but from the fact of knowing that one is loved by the Lord.”

Paul Vallely, who wrote a biography about Pope Francis, credited the Catholic…

Dr Hisham Shafiq al-Maskuni, 61, a radiologist at a nuns’ hospital, his wife Dr Shaza Malik Dinno, a gynaecologist at the same hospital, and her elderly mother, Khairiyah Dawood Abada, were stabbed by four men last Thursday who then stole money and some items from the house.

According to World Watch Monitor, the bodies were discovered by neighbours the next morning, after noticing through the open door Mr al-Maskuni’s body in the corridor. The police later found his wife’s body in the kitchen and her mother’s on the second floor.

Attacks on Iraq’s Christian community have forced thousands to flee from their homes, particularly in the capital. The significant loss of the Christian populace in the city led to eight churches closing their doors after nearly seven years of low to no attendance.

A spokesperson for Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced over the weekend that the suspects had been arrested.

While the motivation behind the murders remains unknown, a local source told World Watch Monitor the incident has increased fears among Iraqi Christians.

Fr Biyos Qasha of Baghdad Maryos Church echoed this fear and told Iraqi news agency Rudaw: “This (attack) means that there is no place for Christians. We are seen as a lamb to be killed at any time.”

He also shared his concern that “these are the signs of a start of a (new) plan to force the Christian population from their homes and out of the country”.

This is the…