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Questions / The Bible

Why do Catholics have more books in the Bible?

Church teaching

Answered on video by Catholic Answers

Video: Catholic Bibles Have MORE Books Than Protestant Bibles (a brief history), Catholic Answers Live, published Dec 30, 2022. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube

In short: Forty-six Old Testament books and twenty-seven New, recognized through the Tradition passed down from the apostles. CCC 120

The answer, in writing

Church teaching

It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings belong in the canon: 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 of the New. CCC 120

Our words

The seven extra Old Testament books were in the Greek Bible the first Christians used. At the Reformation, Protestants set them aside. Catholics kept them.

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Related questions

Who decided which books are in the Bible? Catholic Answers · 1 minDo Catholics read the Bible? Bishop Robert Barron · 8 minHow does someone become a canonized saint? Fr. Mike Schmitz · 7 minWho wrote the New Testament? Dr. Brant Pitre · 10 min

Sources on this page

How we know · 1 Catechism paragraph
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 120 (official text on vatican.va).

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