And they could still be there, according to a paper published recently by Italian researchers.

The claims were made in "The Search of St Peter's Memory ad catacumbas in the Cemeterial Area ad Duos Lauros in Rome," published in early March in the journal ‘Heritage'.

Labelling their conclusions as "conjecture," the researchers suggested archaeologists could "validate" their findings with "excavation campaigns".

However, a leading expert in Christian archaeology and a member of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology told Vatican News that the researchers' hypothesis was "unacceptable."

Emperor Constantine would never have gone through so much logistical trouble building St Peter's Basilica in the early fourth century "if it had not been contingent upon the presence of the venerated remains" below, where the saint's tomb had been venerated since early Christian times, Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai told Vatican News May 30.

"It is clear," he said, "that St Peter's remains were found in the place of the original burial site on the Vatican hill when the formidable Constantinian basilica was built. It is the biggest basilica ever established in the city," he said.

He added that if later the remains had been moved "ad catacumbasto," then that refers to a cemetery on the Appian Way, later called, the catacombs of St Sebastian.

The researchers highlighted the lengthy quest by archaeologists to prove where St Peter had been buried but added that the debate was still open as to where his remains could be found.

"The most accepted opinion is that St Peter's remains were moved in one of the Roman catacombs," they wrote.

They added that "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.

St Paul VI announced in 1968 that the "relics" of St Peter had been "identified in a way which we can hold to be convincing".

This came after bones were discovered following excavations of the necropolis under St Peter's Basilica, near a monument erected in the fourth century to honour St Peter.

The pope had cases of the relics placed beneath the basilica's main altar and in his private chapel in the Apostolic Palace.

According to Vatican News, scientists have confirmed the remains are those of a 60 - 70-year-old robust male.

Sources

• America Magazine

It's a difficult question for me to answer—the places I would list would either be the obvious ones you'll find on most tourist lists (the four major basilicas, the Vatican Museums, the Flavian Amphitheater) or places that I would want to take you myself, so I could show you what you needed to see.

Actually, any place I tell you to go in Rome I would want to take you myself, because it's too easy to miss something (table of the Last Supper, anyone? How many people miss that in the Basilica of John Lateran?) or because you'll probably have some silly guide who tells you something absurd, like that no martyrs died in the Colosseum.

There is one place, however, I would always recommend to someone visiting the Rome—something that often escapes the tourist lists, and a place where most of the guides are pretty legit (I've only had one bad one, and that was almost ten years ago).

The Scavi.

The Scavi refers to the excavations under St. Peter's Basilica. Only about 200 people get to go down there each day, so I recommend emailing the office a few months in advance and then praying like crazy.

While I can't go into every detail about the Scavi, I highly recommend John Walsh's book The Bones of Peter, which is the definitive book on the gripping story surrounding the excavations. George Weigel also dedicated a chapter in his book Letters to a Young Catholic to a portion of the story (reprinted here: The Scavi of St. Peter's and the Grittiness of Catholicism). Continue reading

• Joannie Watson is presently the Director of Adult Formation for the Diocese of Nashville.