Photograph by Bren Buenaluz
Pope Francis has venerated the supposed remains of St. Peter, putting them on public display in the Vatican.
The remains are normally kept in a small chapel in the papal apartments, but on Sunday the bronze chest containing the remains was brought out and blessed with incense by the Pope. Thousands of worshippers packed St. Peter’s Square hoping to catch a glimpse of the chest that is claimed to hold the remains, the first leader of the Catholic Church and one of the Twelve Disciples.
However, as with most religious relics and artefacts, controversy surrounds the remains which were discovered in 1940 during the excavation of a site with a monument worshipping St. Peter and with graffiti near the tomb reading “Petros eni” or “Peter is here”. Tests done of the remains showed that they belonged to a 60-70-year-old man who was buried wearing purple and gold-threaded cloth. From this information alone, Pope Paul VI said the remains had been identified “in a convincing manner” as those of St Peter in 1968.
No Pope has declared authoritatively that the remains are of St. Peter, and the Vatican has said that they do not intend to open up a debate with their current public display, which marks the end of the Vatican’s Year of Faith.
