Vatican: Tomb is that of St. Paul

Vatican archaeologists have identified a sarcophagus under Rome's second-largest basilica as the tomb believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul. But they still do not know what is inside, experts said Monday.

Public and scholarly curiosity about the contents of the white marble coffin and the possibilities of scientific testing are inevitable.

The Vatican does hope to be able to examine it more closely and maybe even to open it. But Vatican archaeologist Giorgio Filippi said the researchers' first concern now is to free it from centuries of plastering and debris, in the hope of finding other clues on the sarcophagus itself. Then they will look for ways of getting inside.

"Right now we can treat it as a symbol, regardless of its contents," Filippi said.

According to tradition, St. Paul, also known as the apostle of the Gentiles, was beheaded in Rome in the 1st century. The sarcophagus, which dates from A.D. 390 and is buried under the main altar of St. Paul's Outside the Walls Basilica, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and ended last month.

"These excavations give us the full certainty and knowledge that the sarcophagus is St. Paul's tomb, whether it contains his remains or not," Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, head of the basilica, told a Vatican news conference presenting the findings.

The project's original purpose was to make the sarcophagus, buried under layers of plaster and further hidden by an iron grate, more visible to pilgrims and tourists visiting the basilica.

Work in the small area under the altar, to clear the debris and insert a transparent glass floor for better viewing, unearthed new evidence of the authenticity of the sarcophagus, said Filippi, who headed the project.

"Our purpose was not to find out what was inside, but to confirm that it was the original sarcophagus," Filippi said.

He said the decision to make the sarcophagus visible again was made after many pilgrims who came to Rome during the Catholic Church's 2000 Jubilee year expressed disappointment at finding that the saint's tomb could not be visited or touched.

The current basilica stands at the site of two churches built in the 4th century over the spot where tradition said the saint had been buried.

One of them, built by the Roman emperor Theodosius, left the tomb visible, first above ground and later in a crypt.

When a fire destroyed the church in 1823, the current basilica was built and the ancient crypt was filled with earth and covered by a new altar.

During the recent excavations the apse of one of the ancient churches came to light, in the same area where the sarcophagus is located, proving that the tomb was the focal point of devotion in those early churches, the experts said. A slab of marble with the "St. Paul apostle" in Latin was also found in the floor of a layer above the tomb.

"We were always certain that the tomb had to be there, beneath the papal altar," Filippi said.

(AP)