Pope: Scientific analysis done on St. Paul's bones

Pope Benedict XVI, at center, arrives with other prelates for a solemn vespers service for St. Peter and St. Paul, in St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica, in Rome, Sunday, June 28, 2009. The pontiff said recent scientific tests on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul "seem to conclude" that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer

ROME (AP) -- The first-ever scientific test on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul "seems to confirm" that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.

Archaeologists recently unearthed and opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, which for some 2,000 years has been believed by the faithful to be the tomb of St. Paul.

Benedict said scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.

"This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul," Benedict said, announcing the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican's Paoline year, in honor of the apostle...

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