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TWO THOUSAND years of tradition and legend have held that the bones of Paul of Tarsus lie in the basilica of St Paul Without The Walls. Now, Pope Benedict XVI says, science has confirmed it.

In his Sunday night homily in the basilica, marking yesterday’s feast day of saints Peter and Paul, the pope said carbon-fibre tests carried out on the tomb long believed to contain St Paul’s remains found traces of purple linen, incense and bones: “This surely confirms the unanimous and uncontested belief that the tomb contains the mortal remains of the apostle Paul.”