Sir, _ Your caption and report (May 7th) of Pope John Paul II meeting Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Kaftaro at Damascus's Omayyad Mosque describes that building as "where the tomb of John the Baptist is located".
That is not entirely correct. Some of the disciples of John, who fled to Damascus after his execution, took with them their master's head only, and buried it in a golden casket in the north-west quarter of the city; and in the fourth century the Temple of Jupiter was converted into a church and dedicated to John. But I know of no evidence that the rest of John's body, as distinct from his head, has ever been buried in Damascus. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Martin Pulbrook, New Meeting House, Prince's Street, Cork.