28 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

According to researchers, the bones discovered underneath St. Peter’s Basilica may not be his

Three Italian researchers have voiced doubts about whether St. Peter’s bones are buried underneath the Rome basilica that bears his name.

According to research, the bones of St. Peter may have been interred in catacombs underneath the Mausoleum of St. Helena after being relocated from the Vatican hillside during anti-Christian persecutions in the third century.

The researchers called their findings “conjecture,” but said archaeologists could “validate” them with “excavation campaigns.” However, a leading Christian archaeologist and member of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology told Vatican News that the researchers’ hypothesis was “unacceptable.”

“The most accepted opinion is that Peter’s remains were moved in one of the Roman catacombs,” they write in “The Search of St. Peter’s Memory ad catacombs in the Cemeterial Area ad Duos Lauros in Rome.” But “archaeological evidence seems to exclude” the common hypothesis that St. Peter’s remains were kept “for a certain period” in the catacombs on Via Appia.

The purpose of our study is to research Peter’s memory ad catacombs. According to the Depositio Martyrum—a document of the late Emperor Constantine period—there was no memory of the first St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican Hill. We start with a critical analysis on the Roman Basilica attributed to Emperor Constantine in Liber Pontificalis, then we deepen the search of Peter’s memory in the catacombs of the Sts. Marcellinus and Peter (ad Duos Lauros), also known as Tor Pignattara. Indeed, the basilica and mausoleum built in this cemeterial area are the only buildings attributable, with certainty, to Emperor Constantine, who wished to be buried in the mausoleum, close to an apostle. Besides some striking archeological finds on Peter’s memory already discovered near a particular cubicle in these catacombs, a geometrical and mathematical study of the unusual architectonic characteristics of the basilica and mausoleum of Tor Pignattara shows that the buildings were part of a single architectonic plan, very likely designed for coding data useful to locate Peter’s burial site unambiguously, in the area of the cubicle mentioned.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Vatican
St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City | Pixabay

Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai, an expert in Christian archaeology and a member of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, however, told Vatican News that the researchers’ hypothesis was “unacceptable.”

Fiocchi Nicolai said that Emperor Constantine would never have built St. Peter’s Basilica in the 4th century “if it had not been contingent upon the presence of the venerated remains” below. That is the spot where St. Peter was martyred and where his tomb had been venerated since early Christian times, he said. 

“It is clear that Peter’s remains were found in the place of the original burial site on the Vatican hill when the formidable Constantinian basilica was built, the biggest basilica ever established in the city,” Fiocchi Nicolai said.

Excavations of the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica began in the 1940s near a monument erected in the 4th century to honor St. Peter. In 1968, after bones were discovered and scientifically confirmed that they belonged to  a 60- to 70-year-old robust male, Pope Paul VI announced that the “relics” of St. Peter had been “identified in a way which we can hold to be convincing.”

Source: Aleteia

Related Articles

Saudi Arabia’s “Gates of Hell” and Mysterious Structures

30 March 2024

30 March 2024

The region of Saudi Arabia, where the mysterious neolithic structures called the “Gates of Hell” are located, has around 400...

Bronze Age Petroglyphs discovered in Kazakhstan

1 May 2024

1 May 2024

Volunteers in Kazakhstan have discovered new petroglyphs from the Bronze Age. The rock carvings were found by volunteers of the...

Researchers Finds Nearly 500 Ancient Ceremonial Sites in Southern Mexico with Lidar Technique

26 October 2021

26 October 2021

A team of international researchers led by the University of Arizona reported last year that they had uncovered the largest...

Early Iron Age cremation burial containing bronze jewelry and rare textile fragments found in Austria

9 July 2023

9 July 2023

Archeologists from the Vienna Natural History Museum (NHM), a cremation burial containing bronze jewelry and rare surviving textile fragments have...

Earthquake Unearthed Lost Roman Odeon in Croatia

28 May 2025

28 May 2025

An extraordinary archaeological discovery emerged in Croatia after renovation work began on Sisak’s City Hall, damaged by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake...

New Research Links Climate Crisis to the Fall of the Roman Empire

11 April 2025

11 April 2025

A study led by scientists at the University of Southampton, in collaboration with Queen’s University Canada and the Chinese Academy...

A mosaic made by the freed slave to thank God was found in the church excavation

10 January 2022

10 January 2022

During the season excavation of the 6th-century Holy Apostles Church, located in an orange grove in the Arsuz district of...

Archaeologists uncover a 1,500-year-old Lost Mayan city in the Yucatan

28 May 2022

28 May 2022

Researchers have presented their findings after discovering the remnants of an ancient Mayan city on a building site in Mexico....

5,200-year-old stone carving silkworm chrysalis discovered in north China

19 July 2022

19 July 2022

According to the provincial archaeological research institute, archaeologists discovered a stone-carved silkworm chrysalis dating back at least 5,200 years in...

A Treasure-Laden Burial Chamber Found Hidden Among Terracotta Army

7 June 2024

7 June 2024

Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of China, and his tomb is renowned for being guarded by an army...

Ancient city “Germanicia” lost in 73 years

8 July 2021

8 July 2021

The presence of the ancient city of Germanicia, discovered during an illegal excavation in the southeast Turkish province of Kahramanmaraş...

Using Google Earth and aircraft reconnaissance, archaeologists identify unknown sites and Serbia’s hidden Bronze Age megastructures

17 November 2023

17 November 2023

Using Google Earth and aircraft reconnaissance, archaeologists at University College Dublin identified more than 100 previously unknown sites. Satellite remote...

A first-of-its-kind Ayyanar stone idol found in Vellore, India

25 June 2022

25 June 2022

An Ayyanar stone idol, the first of its kind in Vellore, was discovered at Thandalai Krishnapuram (TK Puram) in Tamil...

Rare Langsax fighting blade with Viking origins discovered in Poland

20 August 2021

20 August 2021

Archaeologists working in the Wdecki Landscape Park in Poland’s Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship have discovered a rare langsax long knife with potential...

Ancient Rome’s city borders were discovered in a rare stone

17 July 2021

17 July 2021

Archaeologists unearthed a rare stone outlining ancient Rome’s city borders during excavations for a new sewage system. The stone comes...