Located within Vatican City, St. Peter’s Basilica stands where a church in some form has stood for over 1,500 years. Below is the tomb of St. Peter — one of the original apostles who walked with Jesus. This is not legend. It is history. Even secular historians agree that a man named Peter walked with Jesus of Nazareth. An archeological dig completed just 60 years ago confirmed that a man who lived in the first century AD and died at 60-70 years of age is entombed there. His clothing confirms he was a Bishop — and therefore first in the line of papal succession.
Peter. If it is not Peter, it is a coincidence beyond comprehension.
Until this dig, everyone assumed the Tomb of St. Peter (which we are visiting tomorrow) was merely a symbolic place. Modern archaeology proved otherwise. During the tour, this was a common refrain from our guide: that modern science has turned what had been written off as Biblical legend into fact. Think about that … think about the fact that science is proving, not disproving, my Catholic and Christian faith. This is happening in the Middle East, as well.
I may live long enough to inform Bill Maher that his evangelical atheism is anti-science.
Joking aside, a hundred years ago it would have been much harder for me to embrace Christianity as a faith. The last hundred-or-so years of secular history, science, and archaeology that backs up much of the Old and even more of the New Testament (especially the Gospels) will astonish anyone interested in looking.