Do Catholics believe in the Apocrypha?

Answer 1

Catholics believe in what Protestants call the Apocrypha. However, Catholics do not call these books the Apocrypha, they are the Deuterocanonical Scriptures because they are the Word of God, and have been since the 4 century B.C. The Apocrypha are those books which were not accepted into the Canon- attached below is a complete list of the Apocrypha.

Answer 2

This is a loaded question, because the answer is completely different depending on whether a protestant or a Catholic asked the question, and depending upon who is reading the answer. The short answer is that Catholics have not used any apocryphal books since the New Testament was infallibly decided by several Church councils and the Pope in the late fourth century. The very name "apocryphal" means a well-defined class of literature with scriptural or quasi-scriptural pretensions, but lacking genuineness and canonicity.

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However, protestants use the word to refer to the Deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament, which is an incorrect use of the word. Deutero-canonical refers to "second canon" which means that the books in the Deutero-canon were accepted into the canon at a later date than the first canonical books, but they are no less canonical and valid. The New Testament deutero-canonical books include Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, Revelation, and Mark 16:9-29. The Old Testament deutero-canon include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, I and II Maccabees, parts of Esther (10:4-16, 14) and Daniel (3:24-90, 13, 14). Protestants have accepted the deutero-canonical books of the New Testament, but rejected the deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament as apocryphal.

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So the short answer would be that Catholics have never accepted the apocryphal books of The Bible, but if you are using the word incorrectly, as the protestants do, to refer to the deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament, then, following Jesus Christ, we have always used those books - they are quoted from by Jesus numerous times in the New Testament.