Did the Catholic Church add books to the Bible?

No. The Catholic Church did not add books to Scripture. She recognized the books inspired by God and handed down the 73-book canon centuries before the Protestant Reformation.

Which books are disputed. Catholic Bibles contain seven Old Testament books absent from most Protestant Bibles: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees. They also contain portions of Esther and Daniel. Catholics call these books deuterocanonical, meaning that their canonical status was disputed in some places before being definitively settled. The Catechism lists 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books (CCC 120).

What the early Christians used. The apostles and early Christians frequently used the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. Its scriptural collection included the deuterocanonical books. The New Testament sometimes reflects its wording, as in Heb 10:5. Early Christian writers also quoted books such as Wisdom, Sirach, and Tobit as authoritative Scripture. Some Church Fathers questioned individual books, just as others questioned Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, or Revelation. A period of uncertainty does not mean that the Church later invented new Scripture.

How the canon was recognized. The Bible does not contain an inspired table of contents. Christ entrusted His revelation to the apostles, and that apostolic deposit was handed on through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (CCC 80-83). Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church discerned which writings belonged to that deposit. Local councils at Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397 listed the same Catholic canon. The Council of Florence reaffirmed it in 1442, before the Reformation.

What happened at the Reformation. In the sixteenth century, Protestant Reformers rejected the deuterocanonical books as part of the Old Testament. Some early Protestant Bibles printed them in a separate section called the Apocrypha. Many later editions omitted them entirely. The Council of Trent solemnly reaffirmed the historic Catholic canon in 1546 because that canon was being challenged. Trent confirmed what the Church had long received. It did not create additional books.

When comparing Bibles, check the table of contents. A Catholic edition will contain all 73 books and usually carry an imprimatur or approval from a Catholic bishop.