A post shared on X claims that the Vatican removed 14 books from the Bible in 1684.
Verdict: False
The Catholic Church has never removed the deuterocanonical books, also known as the “Apocrypha.” The 1611 version of the King James Version of the Bible did have the deuterocanonical books, but these were later removed in English Bibles for various reasons, such as saving money on printing.
Fact Check:
Social media users are claiming that the Catholic Church removed 14 books from the Bible. One user wrote, “1684 the Vatican removed 14 books from the Bible…The missing books are known as the Apocrypha. Some say that the 14 removed books did not fit with the Roman Catholic Church’s Narrative. Here some prophecies, conspiracies and more.”
These claims are false. The Catholic Church affirms that there are 73 books in the Biblical canon, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website. These include the books known as the deuterocanonical, seven books and additions that are part of the Septuagint, which translated the Old Testament scriptures from Hebrew into Greek, according to Britannica.
These are different from the Protestant Biblical canon, which holds that there are 66 books, and rejects that the deuterocanonical books are inspired, as they are not included in the Hebrew Old Testament canon, according to Britannica. Protestants consider the deuterocanonical books as “apocrypha.” (RELATED: Did Harper Collins Omit 64,575 Words In The NIV And ESV Versions?)
The books and additions accepted by Catholics include “Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiasticus (Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach)” and “the Book of Baruch (a prophet) and the Letter of Jeremiah (often the sixth chapter of Baruch); the First and Second Books of Maccabees; several stories from Daniel, namely, the Song of the Three, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon; and extensive portions of the Book of Esther,” according to Britannica.
The Catholic biblical canon was first established by the Synod of Rome in 382 AD and affirmed by one synod in Hippo in 393 AD and three synods in Carthage in 393, 397 and 419 AD. It was also reaffirmed during the Council of Florence in 1442 and then proclaimed as an article of faith in 1546 AD at the Council of Trent, according to New Advent.
The books were not removed in the 1611 original version of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, though were not considered part of the Old Testament. The British and Foreign Bible Society stopped printing the deuterocanonical books from its bibles as it would cost less to print, according to Wikipedia. Another reason for the reduction of KJV bibles with these books is that it would appeal to non-Anglican Protestants, per Wikipedia.