Why Does the Catholic Bible have more Books than the Protestant Bible?
The “Canon” (derived from the Greek word for rule) of Scripture comprises books of the Bible received in the Church as authentically inspired and normative for the Faith. The Catholic Church, through her Popes and Councils, gathered together the separate books that early Christians venerated; formed a collection (drew up a list or catalog of inspired and apostolic writings); and declared that only these were the Sacred Scriptures of the New Testament along with the Alexandrian Canon (aka Septuagint) of the Old Testament. The authorities responsible for settling and closing the “Canon” of Holy Scripture were the Councils of Hippo (393) and of Carthage (397 and 416) under the influence of St. Augustine (at the latter of which two Legatees were present from the Pope), and the Popes Innocent I in 405, and Gelasius, 494, both of whom issued lists of Sacred Scripture identical with that fixed by the Councils. The Church never admitted any other; and at the Council of Florence in the fifteent
The Catholic Church, through its Councils of Hippo (393 A.D.) and Carthage (397 and 416 A.D.), gathered together the separate books that early Christians venerated as the inspired word of God. These books were included in every collection of Holy Scriptures from the 4th to the 16th century. During the Protestant Reformation, seven complete books and parts of two others were eliminated from Protestant Bibles, based on criticisms by Luther, Calvin and others.
