propaganda [L17th] Today propaganda has negative connotations, with implications of bias and deception, but these date only from the mid 19th century. In 1622 Pope Gregory XV set up the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, the ‘Congregation for Propagation of the Faith’ responsible for spreading the word of Christianity by missions around the world. Propagate, from the same Latin word, was already well established, having arrived in the 16th century.