When did the Catholic Church officially recognize the 11-book Apocrypha?
When both some Catholic theologians and all Protestant reformers excluded the Apocrypha from the Bible, the Catholic Council of Trent in 1546 A.D. took action. Besides using their authority to condemn Luther to Hell, the Council officially recognized all the books of the Council of Carthage as being in the Bible — except for the Prayer of Manasses and 1 and 2 Esdras. (Some Catholic Bibles call Esther and Nehemiah 1,2 Esdras, which changes 1,2 Esdras into 3,4 Esdras.) Thus, the Catholic Apocrypha today is three books shorter than the Apocrypha throughout most of history and the Orthodox Church today. Q: What is the official stance of the Anglican and Episcopalian churches on the Apocrypha? They are midway between the Protestant and Catholic/Orthodox position. According to Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, it is useful for “example of life and instruction in manners but are not a source of doctrine”. Q: What is the official stance of the Lutheran churches
