The Pope

to give news
in May ?
BRITISH United Press states on the authority of " an unimpeachable source " that the Pope will announce over the radio in the middle of May the discovery of St. Peter's tomb.
The announcement-one of the most momentous in the Church's history-will follow over 10 years excavation work deep below St. Peter's.
The Holy Father will be speaking when he formally inaugurates the underground basilica of Constantine the Great.
Pilgrims will he able to visit the basilica immediately after the ceremony.
" Announcement and verification of the discovery will cast new glory on Rome and silence critics, some of whom claim that St. Peter had never been to Rome," one Vatican official said.
The underground basilica is 33 feet beneath the pavement of the present basilica of St. Peter.
It has three naves resting on mighty pillars, and has five altars. reconstructed from the fragments of the Constantine basilica.
It will accommodate about 10,000 people.
A senior Vatican official said that the Pope will invite scholars and archaeologists of all religions and natienalities to see for themselves the evidence upon which the Holy See bases its affirmation that this really is the tomb of Peter.
Five experts
The complete evidence will be contained in a book written by five authorities who directed the Vatican excavations. This book will be released at about the same time that the Pope inaugurates the basilica.
Its contents and claims----still a closely-guarded secret can be checked against various written historic records already recovered.
The five men who directed the excavations have been under an oath of secrecy. They are Prof. Enrico Josi, Fr. Antonio Ferrua, Engelbert Kirschbaum, Prof. Giuseppe Nicolosi and the Marquis Camillo Serafini.
Some of these have given lectures and written articles during the past three years hinting at the general contents of their work.
They have said that Constantine the Great would never have built the first basilica at the foot of Vatican Hill if he had not wanted to follow an early tradition of honouring St. Peter.
They said, too, that Constantine's workers sliced off a side of the hill in order to build the basilica which he raised over a pagan cemetery. with the centre altar directly above the exact spot where St. Peter was buried.