Pope Benedict's book disputes the birth of Jesus

Pope Benedict’s book, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, was published on Tuesday. It is predicted to be a best seller, and a million copies of the book have already been printed in English. 

The book will be translated into another 20 languages for publication in 72 countries.

The Infancy Narratives follows the life of Jesus from conception to his presentation in the temple at the age of 12. The book stated that Jesus may have been born earlier than previously thought December 25. According to the Telegraph, the Pope explains in his book that Exiguus, who is considered the inventor of the Christian calendar, “made a mistake in his calculations by several years. The actual date of Jesus’ birth was several years before.”
Pope Benedict makes some controversial statements in the book. He writes of how the Gospel of Matthew claims that Jesus was born when Herod the Great ruled in Judea. However, given that Herod died in 4 B.C., Jesus must have been born earlier than Exiguus originally documented. Arguments surrounding Jesus’ exact date of birth have confounded scholars for centuries. Even the Gospel of Luke contends that the birth took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria in A.D. 6
.
He also reveals in the book that “there is no mention of animals in the manger that Jesus was born in.” This may come as a shock to the thousands of schools currently preparing their Nativity plays. The pontiff has said that the presence of animals such as cattle and donkeys used in traditional Nativity scenes are based on nothing more other than myth.