By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor
November 25, 2013|9:35 am
At a mass that marked the end of the Vatican’s year-long celebration of the Christian faith, Pope Francis on Sunday unveiled for the first time bone fragments believed to be that of Apostle Peter.
The pope prayed before a jewel box that carried nine pieces of bone – each measuring about an inch long – inside a bronze display case kept beside the altar during the mass at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, according to The Associates Press.
Francis clutched the case in his arms for several minutes after his homily at the mass that was attended by around 1,200 cardinals, patriarchs and archbishops from around the world.
It was Pope Paul VI who had announced in 1968 that the fragments found in the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica belonged to Peter, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus, “in a way that we can consider convincing.”
Catholics consider Peter to be the first pope. The bone fragments were found during excavations after the death of Pope Pius XI in 1939. Pius had asked to be buried in the grottoes where dozens of popes are buried. Archaeologists discovered there a funerary monument with a casket with an engraving in Greek reading “Petros eni,” or “Peter is here.”
Pope Francis Unveils Fragments Believed to Be Apostle Peter’s Bone