Tomb Contains Mortal Remains of Apostle Paul

Benedict XVI reports results of a probe into the sarcophagus inside the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

VATICAN CITY (AsiaNews) - With "great emotion" Benedict XVI announced that a recent scientific probe confirmed what Catholic tradition has always held, namely that the body of the Apostle Paul is located under the papal altar in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. The announcement was made today in the basilica itself during the homily of the First Vespers of the Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul, which brings the Pauline Year to a close, a year that was held to celebrate 2,000 years since the birth of the Apostle of Tarsus.

The Pontiff said that recently the tomb was "subject to a scientific investigation. A small hole was drilled in the sarcophagus, unopened for centuries, and a probe was introduced. It found traces of a valuable purple fabric, in linen and gold layer-laminated, and a blue fabric with linen threads. Red incense grains and substances containing proteins and limestone were also discovered. Small fragments of bone were found and radiocarbon dated by experts who did not know their place of origin. Results indicate that they belong to someone who lived between the 1st and 2nd century A.D. This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition according to which these are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul. All this fills our soul with deep emotion."

In a crowded basilica and in the presence of representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the sister Orthodox Church, the Pope outlined some of the elements in Apostle Paul's message which must become part of the everyday existence of Christians.

"The Pauline Year has come to an end, but being on the same path as Paul and, with him and thanks to him, know Jesus and, like him, be enlightened and transformed by the Gospel, will always be part of Christian existence," the Pontiff said.

Newness was the first element he stressed. Citing Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans (Ch. 12), he said that "with Christ a new way to worship God, a new form of worship, began. It lies in the fact that the living man becomes himself adoration, "sacrifice" even in his body. No longer are things offered to God but our own existence becomes a way to praise God."

"We must become new men," the Holy Father said, "transformed in a new way of existence. The world is always looking for new things because it is rightly unhappy of reality as it is. Paul told us that without new men the world cannot be renewed. Only if there are new men will there be a new world, a renewed and better world."

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For the Pontiff what is new is in Paul himself who "became new, someone else, because he no longer lived for himself and in himself but for Christ and in Him. Over the years he saw that this process of renewal and transformation went on during one's whole life. As we become new we allow ourselves to be seized and moulded by the New Man Jesus Christ."

"The way of thinking of old men, the standard way of thinking is usually directed at possessing, well-being, influence, success, fame and so on. But in being so it has a limited reach. In the end one's own self remains the centre of the world . . . . We must learn [instead] to share Jesus Christ's thinking and will. Once that is done we shall be new men in which a new world emerges."

This newness also means having a grown-up rather than a childish faith; it is an invitation not to conform or adhere to the standard mindset.

"In the last few decades the expression 'grown-up faith' has spread," Benedict XVI said. "It is often used in relation to the attitudes of those who no longer pay attention to what the Church and its Pastors say--which is to say, those who choose on their own what to believe or not believe in a sort of 'do-it-yourself' faith. Expressing oneself against the Magisterium of the Church is presented as a sort of 'courage', whereas in fact not much courage is needed because one can be certain that it will get public applause. Instead courage is needed to adhere to the Church's faith, even if it contradicts the mould of today's world. Paul calls this non-conformism a 'grown-up faith'. For him following the prevailing winds and currents of the time is childish. For this reason dedicating oneself to the inviolability of life from its beginning, radically opposing the principle of violence, in the defence precisely of the most defenceless; recognising the lifetime marriage between a man and a woman in accordance with the Creator's order, re-established again by Christ is also part of a grown-up faith. A grown-up faith does not follow any current here and there. It is against the winds of fashion."

A grown-up faith is the one that grows by living the truth in love (cf Ephesians, 4:15). Both are necessary because God is both. "The Apostle told us that by living the truth in love, we can make the whole--the universe--grow by aiming for Christ. . . . The ultimate purpose of Christ's work is the universe--the transformation of the universe, of mankind's entire world, of the whole of creation. Those who with Christ live the truth in love contribute to the world's progress. Yes! Here it is clear that Paul is aware of the idea of progress. Through his life, suffering and resurrection, Christ was the real great leap of progress for humanity and the world. Now the universe must grow in view of Him. Where the presence of Christ grows, there is real progress in the world."

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In order for this renewal to occur it is necessary to strengthen the inner self (Ephesians, 3:16). "Men are often empty inside and thus must grasp for promises and drugs, which end up adding to their inner sense of emptiness," the Pope explained. "This inner emptiness, man's inner weakness, is one of today's great problems. The inner self--the heart's perceptiveness, the capacity to see and understand the world and man from within, with the heart--must be strengthened. We need reason enlightened by the heart to learn to act in accordance to the truth in love. This cannot be done without an intimate relationship with God, without a life of prayer. We need to meet God, something which is given to us in the Sacraments. And we cannot speak to God in prayer if we do not let Him speak first, if we do not listen to him in the word he gave us."

In his final thoughts the Pope turned to the cosmic dimensions of the mystery of Christ, about its "breadth and length and height and depth" (Ephesians, 3:18). "The mystery of Christ has a cosmic vastness. He does not belong only to a given group. The crucified Christ embraces the whole universe in all its dimensions. He takes the world in his hands and raises it towards God . . . . In the Cross Christ's love has embraced the lowest depth--the darkness of death--and the supreme height--God's own nobility. He has taken in his arms the breadth and the vastness of humanity and the world in all their distances. He always embraces the universe--for all of us."