After many months of digging, the excavators came to a section of older graves, near the area underneath the high altar. Directly beneath the altar, they found a large burial site and a wall painted red. In a niche connected to that wall, they found the bones of a man.
More than 20 years later, in 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that those bones belonged to St. Peter.
Inside the Vatican: Front Page
St. Peter's Basilica
The Swiss Guards
The Pope's Day
A City-State
The World's Most Beautiful Stuff
The Holy See
Electing a New Pope
The Secret Archives
The Making of Inside the Vatican
Kids Activity Guide
Source: Excerpt from Inside the Vatican, a National Geographic Television special that airs in the United States on the National Geographic Channel and is available as a book.
