Free Republic

They’re digging for answers. There has been an ongoing debate for many years over where Jesus was crucified and buried — with many experts believing the site to be on the grounds of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Now, new archaeological evidence might confirm their belief to be true. A team of researchers from Sapienza University of Rome recently found remains of a plant — possibly the same plant referenced in John 19:41 — that dates back to the time of Jesus‘ death, which is believed to have happened around 33 A.D. To be more specific, the...

A team of Italian researchers have possibly uncovered the oldest ever fossilized footprint left behind by modern man's ancestor, Homo Erectus. The prints are thought to date back some 800,000 years and were unearthed in the desert of south eastern Eritrea... Alfredo Coppa... from Rome's Sapienza university... and his Italian colleagues were working with researchers from Eritrea's National Museum when they unearthed the 26 m2 slab of stone containing the footprints. Today, the area lies in the middle of an arid desert, but 800,000 years ago the environment was very different. The fossilized footprints, which are almost indistinguishable to those...

VATICAN CITY — The pope's top aide said Wednesday that Benedict XVI's reason for canceling a visit to a Rome university was that he did not want to create a pretext for further "unpleasant" protests by professors and students opposed to the religious leader speaking at a secular campus. Anti-pope slogans have appeared on banners and posters around buildings at La Sapienza University, where Benedict was to have spoken on Thursday. A group of professors, mainly from the sciences, wrote to the university rector late last year to object to the pope's visit, depicting Benedict as a religious figure opposed...