A mission to translate what is thought to be a two-century old scripture from Khmer to Italian, a gift to Pope Puis XI from the late King Rama VII during his trip to Italy, has been completed and is ready to be displayed at the Vatican museum, according to Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimonmangkhalaram.
The holy scripture, written in ancient Khmer, was a gift from the late His Majesty King Prachadipok to the Vatican during his trip to Italy 83 years ago.
Temple abbot Phra Thepveeraporn said he was told by delegates from Vatican in the middle last year that Pope Francis -- the supreme Pope of the Roman Catholic Church -- would like to exhibit the ancient Khmer-written scripture at the Museum of the Vatican.
However Pope Francis didn't understand the meaning and its context, so he sought the temple's cooperation on the translation, he added.
The working group was set up to translate the ancient Khmer language scripture by dividing it into seven chapters, including chanting teaching, poetic stories, Pali chants and a conclusion of teaching and orders made by the Lord Buddha.
The translated version, which comes in a cover of pure gold, is 13 centimetres in width, 66 centimetres in length.
The 186 pages of translated scripture will be displayed at the Museum of the Vatican, together with the original version.
The translated version will later be translated into seven other languages, including Chinese, Italian, French and Spanish.
The temple received microfilms from the Vatican and took 11 months to complete the job.
He said that the original document is around 200 years as stories as early as the Ratanakosin era were mentioned in the scripture.
"It is our great honour to translate the holy scripture, which has reaffirmed our good relations with the temple and the Catholic empire that had been done before when our former abbot made a visit to Vatican in 1972," he said.
Chao Khun Thiab, who is the chief of the working group on translating the holy scripture, said the mission has represented to the world that both religious have created the valuable things to the world.
The Catholic delegate team led by Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit met with the abbot for attending the holy scripture conveying ceremony, which it will be exhibited in the Museum of the Vatican.
Mercier Vishnu Tanya, deputy secretary-general of Catholic Bishop's Conference of Thailand, said this is a great opportunity to display teachings from the Lord Bhudda to visitors making a visit to the museum, which attracts millions of people every.
The Vatican Museum contain masterpieces of painting, sculpture and other works of art collected by the popes.