Vatican officials may have found Paul’s tomb

ROME — Archeologists with the Vatican say they have unearthed a sarcophagus that may contain the remains of the apostle Paul. The 8-foot coffin was found buried under the main altar of St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica in Rome and dates to at least A.D. 390. It has not yet been opened and may not be for some time. Tradition had long held that the coffin was somewhere on the site. News of the sarcophagus’s discovery was announced in 2005, although archeologists had to do considerable work to unearth it. Vatican officials held a press conference Dec. 11, 2006, to announce its excavation.

"For now we didn’t open the sarcophagus to study the contents. Our aim was to unearth the coffin venerated as St. Paul’s tomb, not to authenticate the remains," Giorgio Filippi, the archaeologist of the Vatican Museum, said, according to National Geographic News. "The sarcophagus was buried beneath the main altar, under a marble tombstone bearing the Latin words ‘Paulo Apostolo Mart.,’ meaning ‘Apostle Paul, Martyr.’" The basilica "rises on the place where, according to tradition, Paul of Tarsus was originally buried after his martyrdom," Filippi said.

Eusebius, a church historian who lived around A.D. 300, wrote that Paul was beheaded in Rome under Emperor Nero. Details of Paul’s death are not recorded in Scripture.