Pope to put 'St. Peter's bones' on display at Vatican

After centuries buried
beneath the Vatican, and decades hidden
away inside the Holy See, the bones of a
man long believed to be St. Peter, one of
the founding fathers of the Christian
church, are to go on display for the first
time.
The controversial remains will be revealed
to the public on Sunday at a mass in St
Peter's Square marking the conclusion of
the Catholic church's "Year of Faith."
Writing in L'Osservatore Romano , the
semi-official Vatican newspaper,
Archbishop Rino Fisichella said the "relics
which tradition recognizes as those of the
apostle who gave his life for the Lord"
would be exhibited as part of the service.
L'Osservatore Romano reports that 8.5
million pilgrims have venerated the relics
over the course of the year.
But whether the bones, normally kept in
an urn housed in the private chapel of
the Pope's own Vatican apartments, really
are those of St. Peter, the fisherman-
turned-disciple who became the first
pope, is open to question.
Tradition has it that St. Peter was
martyred -- by being crucified, upside
down -- in Rome in A.D. 64. before being
buried in the city.
In his book "The Vatican Diaries," John
Thavis wrote that "St. Peter's tomb in the
cemetery on the Vatican Hill became... a
popular pilgrimage site," prompting the
emperor Constantine to build a basilica in
his honor in the 4th century.
The remains which will be revealed on
Sunday were among those discovered
during an archaeological dig begun on the
site in 1939; in 1968 the then pope, Paul
VI, declared that they had been identified
"in a manner which we believe
convincing."
But with no DNA evidence to conclusively
prove their identity, whether they belong
to St. Peter is likely to remain an enduring
mystery.
CNN's Vatican analyst John Allen says that
like so much concerning religion, the
belief that the bones are those of the
disciple comes down to faith.
"Like other famous relics, such as the
Shroud of Turin or the Belt of Mary, they
evoke awe and devotion regardless of
their actual provenance," Allen writes in
an Op-Ed for CNN . "Faith, as the Bible
puts it, lies in 'the evidence of things not
seen.'"Who was St. Peter?
Christians believe that St. Peter
was a fisherman from the
shores of Lake Galilee (in
modern day Israel) who became
one of the earliest and closest
disciples of Jesus Christ.
Originally named Simon, Jesus
gave him the name Cephas, or
Petros, meaning "the Rock."
According to the Bible, when
Jesus was arrested, Peter
denied knowing him three
times, but following Jesus'
crucifixion, he was one of the
first witnesses to the
resurrection.
He led the early church, and is
recognized as the first Pope in
the Roman Catholic faith.
St Peter is believed to have
been martyred -- by being
crucified upside down -- in
Rome in about A.D. 64. The
main basilica in the Vatican is
named in his honor.