March 14, 2003	Friday	Muharram 10, 1424

VATICAN CITY, March 13: The Gospels say Jesus gave the apostle Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, thereby entrusting him with the spiritual guidance of the faithful.

Now the Vatican has lost them. Vatican authorities were searching on Thursday for the left hand — the one holding the keys — of a 13th-century marble statue of the apostle in St Peter’s Basilica after the hand and keys mysteriously vanished.

Carved from a separate block of marble attached to the arm by a metal rod, the hand would have been relatively easy to remove. The Vatican was tight-lipped about what might have happened to it, saying only it was missing.—Reuters