A white marble sarcophagus believed to be the final resting place of the apostle Paul has been unearthed from beneath the altar of Rome’s second-largest basilica after centuries hidden from view, but those curious about its contents will have to wait still longer. Vatican experts say they want to examine it more closely before possibly looking inside. According to tradition, Paul was beheaded in Rome in the first century during the persecution of early Christians by Roman emperors. Popular belief holds that bone fragments from his head are in another Rome basilica, St. John Lateran, with his other remains inside the sarcophagus. The coffin, which was buried under the main altar of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls Basilica, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and ended last month.

-AP