USCCB brings Catechism of the Catholic Church to new browser-based E-book format

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is now available at the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a format identical to an e-book. The new version, currently only available in English, can be found at www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/index.cfm.

Authorized by Pope John Paul II in 1986, the Catechism of the Catholic Church was first published in 1992, with a revised second edition published in 2000. Prior to 1992, the church had been using a universal catechism approved by the Council of Trent in 1566.

Since its release in 1992, the Catechism of the Catholic Church has become a bestseller in the Church, with the USCCB alone having sold more than 988,000 print copies of the second edition. Late in 2011, the USCCB released the e-book edition, which has sold more than 7,100 copies through Amazon, iTunes and the USCCB online bookstore.

“Providing the Catechism in this particular electronic format will make this foundational resource even more accessible to people,” explained Bishop John Wester, chair of the USCCB Communications Committee. “It is free to anyone who has access to the Internet.”

Available through any Internet browser, the Catechism file displays and functions as an e-book. Users can bookmark or highlight areas, see footnotes in a “light box” without leaving the original page, and search within the Catechism, including by paragraph number.

The new e-book version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church resides on the USCCB’s flagship website, www.usccb.org. The site receives more than two million visitors per month, with approximately two trillion bytes of data delivered. In addition to reading content, visitors to the site can share what they find with their social media networks, receive an RSS feed of the daily readings, and view videos of reflections on the daily Scripture readings.