Fake news?

Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute?  Well, the Bible doesn't say so, or even really hint at it.  The idea that she was, came as a result of Pope Gregory I back in the sixth century deciding that she was the unnamed "woman who had lived a sinful life" who washed Jesus's feet as reported in the gospel of Luke.  His reasoning was pretty convoluted, and depended heavily on the fact that Mary was a fairly common Biblical name, but of course back then, what the Pope said was accepted unquestionably as true.  So unless you believe in the absolute infallibility of Popes, past and present, you can come to your own conclusion, and frankly the evidence just isn't there.