THE POPE is to put the sacred bones of St Peter on public display for the first time today.
HOLY: St Peter was the Church's first pope
The remains of St
Peter, the Church’s first pope and one of the earliest and closest
disciples of Jesus Christ, will be on show at the Vatican.
For
months Pope Francis has been planning a special service at St Peter’s
Basilica to mark the end of the Year of Faith, which officially ends
today.
Christians believe St Peter was the first
leader of the Church established by Jesus. While there can be no formal
DNA identification of the bones, Catholics will queue for hours to see
the relics.
The special exhibit is designed to
end the Year of Faith for Catholics around the world, launched by Pope
Benedict XVI last November to help deepen people’s faith. For centuries
the bones lay hidden under St Peter’s Basilica, which was originally
built in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine. The Roman leader
built the Basilica over an old pagan cemetery believed to be the burial
site of Peter, who was martyred by being crucified upside down.
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