On 27 AUgust 2008, Pope Benedict XVI continued the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the figure and thought of St. Paul, continuing the reflection on the Apostle of the Gentiles, proposing a brief biography of him

We have the biographical extreme points of Paul’s life respectively in the Letter to Philemon, in which he declares himself “old” (Philemon 9: “presbytes”), and in the Acts of the Apostles, which at the moment of Stephen’s stoning describe him as “young” (7:58: “neanias”). The two designations are evidently generic, but, according to ancient computations, a man around 30 years old was described as “young,” while “old” was said when a man reached around 60.