diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 2a4d01251..38479bb1f 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 recursive-include packtools *.xsd *.sch *.xml *.ent *.dtd *.mod *.xslt *.json *.xsl *.html *.ico *.css *.txt *.png *.js
-recursive-include packtools/sps/locale *.mo
+recursive-include packtools/sps/locale *.mo *.po
 recursive-exclude tests *
 include README.md HISTORY.md
 exclude tox.ini
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2578aa6f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=68", "wheel", "Babel>=2.12"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3460a8e8f..d72dbe2b3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 #coding:utf-8
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
+from pathlib import Path
 from setuptools import setup
+from setuptools.command.build_py import build_py as _build_py
 import setuptools
 import codecs
 import sys
@@ -11,6 +13,34 @@
     raise RuntimeError('Requires Python 3.9 or newer')
 
 
+LOCALE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "packtools" / "sps" / "locale"
+
+
+def compile_sps_i18n_catalogs():
+    """Compila packtools/sps/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/*.po para .mo.
+
+    MANIFEST.in so inclui *.mo (nao *.po) na distribuicao, entao sem esse
+    passo os catalogos ficam de fora do sdist/wheel e
+    packtools.sps.i18n.set_locale() nunca encontra traducao nenhuma - ver
+    issue #1267.
+    """
+    from babel.messages.mofile import write_mo
+    from babel.messages.pofile import read_po
+
+    for po_path in sorted(LOCALE_DIR.glob("*/LC_MESSAGES/*.po")):
+        with po_path.open("rb") as po_file:
+            catalog = read_po(po_file)
+        mo_path = po_path.with_suffix(".mo")
+        with mo_path.open("wb") as mo_file:
+            write_mo(mo_file, catalog)
+
+
+class build_py(_build_py):
+    def run(self):
+        compile_sps_i18n_catalogs()
+        super().run()
+
+
 # adds version to the local namespace
 VERSION = {}
 with open('packtools/version.py') as fp:
@@ -67,6 +97,7 @@
         exclude=["*.tests", "*.tests.*", "tests.*", "tests", "docs"]
     ),
     include_package_data=True,
+    cmdclass={"build_py": build_py},
     classifiers=[
         "Development Status :: 4 - Beta",
         "Intended Audience :: Developers",
diff --git a/tests/sps/test_i18n_packaging.py b/tests/sps/test_i18n_packaging.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d0ea21c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/sps/test_i18n_packaging.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+import venv
+from pathlib import Path
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2]
+
+KNOWN_MSGID = "Got {obtained}, expected {expected}"
+
+
+class BuildIncludesI18nCatalogsTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Constroi o wheel do packtools e instala num venv limpo, reproduzindo
+    os passos da issue #1267, pra garantir que os catalogos i18n de
+    packtools/sps sao empacotados de verdade (nao so presentes no
+    checkout do git) e que set_locale() funciona de ponta a ponta.
+    """
+
+    @classmethod
+    def setUpClass(cls):
+        cls.tmp_dir = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="packtools_build_test_"))
+
+        wheel_dir = cls.tmp_dir / "wheel"
+        wheel_dir.mkdir()
+        subprocess.run(
+            [
+                sys.executable,
+                "-m",
+                "pip",
+                "wheel",
+                str(REPO_ROOT),
+                "--no-deps",
+                "-w",
+                str(wheel_dir),
+            ],
+            check=True,
+            capture_output=True,
+        )
+        wheels = list(wheel_dir.glob("packtools-*.whl"))
+        assert len(wheels) == 1, f"esperava 1 wheel, encontrou {wheels}"
+        cls.wheel_path = wheels[0]
+
+        venv_dir = cls.tmp_dir / "venv"
+        venv.EnvBuilder(with_pip=True).create(venv_dir)
+        cls.venv_python = venv_dir / "bin" / "python"
+        subprocess.run(
+            [str(cls.venv_python), "-m", "pip", "install", "--quiet", str(cls.wheel_path)],
+            check=True,
+            capture_output=True,
+        )
+
+    @classmethod
+    def tearDownClass(cls):
+        shutil.rmtree(cls.tmp_dir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    def _run_in_clean_venv(self, code):
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            [str(self.venv_python), "-c", code],
+            check=True,
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+        )
+        return result.stdout.strip()
+
+    def test_locale_dir_is_installed(self):
+        output = self._run_in_clean_venv(
+            "from packtools.sps import i18n; print(i18n.LOCALE_DIR.exists())"
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(output, "True")
+
+    def test_set_locale_pt_br_translates_known_message(self):
+        output = self._run_in_clean_venv(
+            "from packtools.sps import i18n; "
+            f"i18n.set_locale('pt_BR'); print(i18n._({KNOWN_MSGID!r}))"
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(output, "Obtido {obtained}, esperado {expected}")
+
+    def test_set_locale_es_translates_known_message(self):
+        output = self._run_in_clean_venv(
+            "from packtools.sps import i18n; "
+            f"i18n.set_locale('es'); print(i18n._({KNOWN_MSGID!r}))"
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(output, "Se obtuvo {obtained}, se esperaba {expected}")
+
+    def test_set_locale_en_keeps_source_message(self):
+        output = self._run_in_clean_venv(
+            "from packtools.sps import i18n; "
+            f"i18n.set_locale('en'); print(i18n._({KNOWN_MSGID!r}))"
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(output, KNOWN_MSGID)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()
\ No newline at end of file