On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.
Why do Catholics have more books in the Bible than Protestants do? And why aren’t the Gnostic gospels of Mary Magdalene and the rest in the Catholic Bible? What is the Church afraid of?
There are differences in translations in all Bibles, but the biggest difference in Catholic Bibles is the inclusion of seven books (Tobit, 
Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and I and II Maccabees). They were present in the Greek Old Testament, but not in the Hebrew Old Testament. When Protestants broke from the Church, they rejected those books.
As for what are called the Gnostic gospels, the Church isn’t afraid of them. However, we believe these heretical writings are riddled with errors and inaccuracies about the sacraments and other teachings, and that’s why they aren’t in our Bible, the inspired word of God.
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