Closing Pauline year, pope reveals results of tests on apostle's tomb - From Catholic News Service

[Jonathan F. Jones]

ROME (CNS) -- Closing the year of St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI announced that tests done on the presumed tomb of the apostle revealed the presence of bone fragments from a human who lived between the first and second century. "This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul," the pope said during an evening prayer service June 28 at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The basilica has long been held to be the burial site of St. Paul, but because of the destruction and rebuilding of the basilica, the tomb's exact location was unknown for centuries. Vatican officials announced in December 2006 that several feet below the basilica's main altar and behind a smaller altar, they had found a roughly cut marble sarcophagus beneath an inscription that reads: "Paul Apostle Martyr." Because part of the sarcophagus is buried beneath building material, Vatican officials determined they could not dig it out to open and examine the contents. It was decided, Pope Benedict said, to drill "very tiny perforation" into the marble so that a small probe could be inserted in order to withdraw fragments, which underwent carbon-14 analysis.