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Remains are St. Paul's, pope says

'Seem to confirm...'?

Since Paul had no children, and it is unknown if he had any siblings to carry on the family genes for DNA referencing...I wonder what the Catholic Church is basing their claim on.

Jayeg, It's not known whether Paul had children or not. He was a member of the Sanhedrin and, as such, would had to have been married. He may have been widowed which is why he made the statments he did.

However, you are right. I can't imagine how it could possibly be proved that the remains are those of the Apostle Paul. DNA couldn't be of much use unless it could, at least, be proved that it was someone of Jewish descent. However, it is impossible to link some Jewish groups today to each other through DNA, so I don't see how that would be of much use.

It may be Paul, but I don't think it could ever be verified.

Grave-robbing is a federal crime, collecting artifacts will get you hauled off at gunpoint.

How was Paul a member of the Sanhedrin? He was a Roman Citizen, He prosecuted Christians as a Roman, not a Jew, or am I missing something? I agree they cannot use DNA testing to prove it is him. Peter on the other hand we know WAS MARRIED, and thus probably did have children as well. To "Presume" it is Peter's remains is a mistake, MORE TESTING MUST BE DONE! We do know he was killed in Rome, that is pretty reliable.

One thing is for sure, There is only two Christian Churches in the world who have legitimate arguments at laying claim to "Authority" from God, one is the "Catholic" claim, the other is the "Latter-day Saint" claim. All others are invalid, as they are descendants from the "Catholic" church who they themselves claim was "Invalid" and "Apostate" from which they can therefore have NO LEGITIMATE CLAIM ON AUTHORITY!

That much is FACT!

Being a member of the Sanhedrin also required that he be over 30, married and have at least 2 children. He had to be a stable family man.

Now that is a comment that shows a wide view of the world!
The coffin is in the Vatican!
The Vatican is standalone country surrounded by Italy.
"The Feds" have NO authority over there.

Even in the US that particular law only applies to artifices found on government owned land.
If they are on private property they are owned by the property owner.
So if the coffin was in a US Catholic Church, they could still do what they wanted with it and its contents.
They own it.

Like the Vatican would EVER say, "Oops, wrong guy buried under the basilica. Our bad."

If I remember right, Paul was a Pharisee. He was of Jewish or at least partial Jewish descent but born somewhere inside the roman empire. I think that made him a Roman citizen as would being born in the US to one parent that is a citizen makes you a US citizen.

Why are we even commenting about and/or doubting this story? How 'up in arms' would we be if a 'good and faithful' Catholic questioned the word and belief of our Prophet? He speaks in faith, and so does the Pope. The Pope is the final authority for the Catholic Church. President Monson is our final authority for our Church. Revalation is given to both. I would never presume to question the beliefs of the Pope unless they are in direct conflict with what I believe to be true as revealed by our Prophets. Let Benedict XVI be the final authority for the Catholic Church.

You would think that Paul would have been resurrected by now. If so, who IS in the coffin? I don't know, just a thought...

The New Testament was written for the world--how did Paul become a Roman Catholic???? He was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ--but I never remember seeing anything in the New Testament about Christ or Paul being a Roman Catholic.

Paul is often called "The Protestant Apostle."

Paul would not be resurrected by now since he was not dead at the time of Christ's resurrection which the graves of the righteous who died before Christ were resurrected. The next resurrection will not happen till the beginning of Christ's Second Coming.

Paul's death after Christ's resurrection does not rule out the possibility of his resurrection. Moroni died sometime after 421 AD, yet appeared to Joseph Smith as a resurrected being...

Paul was baptized too quickly to be a Catholic