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>>While I understand the desire for Roman Catholic's to prove that Jesus had no biological brothers, I have never got to excited about it. I mean that it isn't something which salvation is hanging on.<<

No, but Protestant apologists keep bringing it up. And a model of perpetual virginity is very important to the Catholic priesthood.

It certainy strikes newspaper editors as important. Can anyone explain to me why an unconfirmed claim about an ossuary was scrawled all the way across every national newpaper of record? I couldn't believe when the scratches proved to be recent. That was the first thing I'd've looked for!

There is a division between Catholics and Greeks on the issue of Jesus' siblings. Greeks assert that the gospel's Greek language is perfect, and therefore assert both that Mary had no children ("THE son of you,") but that Jesus had brothers. Hence, they suppose Joseph had sons by a previous wife. This does fit ancient legends concerning the marriage of Joseph and Mary. (Legend is Joseph was an old man who was ashamed to take practically a mere child -- 13 years old! -- for his wife. Imagine his horror when every-one would've thought he couldn't even wait until their marriage to have relations with her! They must've thought he was a horny old lech!)

While the Catholic Church does not formally denounce this, Joseph is considered by Catholics and in Catholic prayers to be also "ever-virgin."

Erik Svedsen (I know I just butchered his last name!) wrote the book "Who is my Mother?" I picked it up, a long with some other non Catholic books about Mary one time. Basically, Erik's whole book was devoted to disproving the perpetual virginity of Mary. It was pretty badly written, and when I saw him at another forum, I realized his motivation was only to bash RC's.

The majority of Lutherans don't seem to worry that much about it. Until about WWII, the LCMS celebrated the visitation of Mary, and even had some songs that addressed Mary as every virgin.

Quite frankly, I don't get too excited about it either. In response to why this got spread over all the newspapers please consider how many times they've found WMD (or not) in Iraq has been published. They beat these things to death and beyond.

But you may wish to consider:

A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother." Mark 3:32-35

If brothers are cousins what are "sisters"?

Re: "It certainy strikes newspaper editors as important. Can anyone explain to me why an unconfirmed claim about an ossuary was scrawled all the way across every national newpaper of record? I couldn't believe when the scratches proved to be recent. That was the first thing I'd've looked for!"

I remember that article, I bought a copy. I'll have to reread it but I remember they address this very issue. They asserted that the writing was very very old. They wrote about the growth of lichens and weathering that indicated it was not a new inscriptions.

Also the issue of the Ever Virgin Mary is very important to Catholic dogma such as the Immaculate Virgin and the Immaculate Heart devotions. There is some things to consider in regards to New Testament prophecy such as chapter 12 of Revelations.

For Protestants it does not matter toward salvation other than to discredit Catholic dogma. But it does matter to Catholics since they are required to accept all or nothing on Church teachings.

I don't know if referring to Jesus's brothers meant actually brothers, or cousins, or just brothers in the faith, but I do have a problem with the perpetual virginity of Mary. She married Joseph, and I would expect that they had a normal married life together and I can't find any scripture that states they didn't. Do you know of any?