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Review of the Holy Shroud Exhibition in Seville
Blogger Sam B. Farkas reviews the exhibition (revised URL):
Each room added a little bit more; the entire time, the suspense built and built. Soon enough, I was ready to scream into my audio guide, "Just tell me if it’s real!"
Then, the rising action right before the climax: the tests.
- The shroud is impervious to water.
- The shroud is impervious to temperatures, both hot and cold.
- The shroud is impervious to light. The image hasn’t faded.
After thousands of years, the shroud has not deteriorated at all, something absolutely unheard of in the archaeological world. Which makes one wonder if it really is a miracle…
By this point I’m bouncing on the balls of my feet with anticipation, wishing the audio guide would go faster (there were no cards next to the displays, so unfortunately I couldn’t just read my way through). I needed to know. Then, finally, it told me to proceed into the next room.
Tell me it isn’t so. They aren’t really saying the shroud is impervious to water, heat and light, right? Something maybe lost in translation, right? Lost in blogging?
Shroud of Turin Presentation in Orlando
John C. Iannone will be presenting, The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin: The Case for Authenticity, at Holy Family Catholic Church, 5125 S. Apopka Vineland Rd., Orlando on Monday, May 13th at 7pm in the church. From the churches website:
No cloth in history has been so studied as the Holy Shroud. Nor has any cloth so caught the fascination and reverence of the world. And still, this Linen remains a mystery. Is it the ancient burial cloth of Jesus, a Visual Gospel providing in its fabric the story of His passion and resurrection?
What do modern blood and DNA studies reveal? Are there images of flowers and pollen on the Shroud that trace its history? What do pathologists say about the wounds and the weapons that created them? These questions as well as new scientific and historical evidence are discussed in this free 1 hour intriguing presentation supporting the authenticity of the Shroud presented with many colorful PowerPoint slides.
A Month of concerts, celebrations and reflections on the Holy Shroud
A Google translation of an article in Vatican Insider, Concerts, celebrations and reflections in memory of the Holy Shroud by Domenico Agasso Jr.:
A Concert and a s. Mass presided over by the papal custodian Msgr. Nosiglia the presence of the leading specialists of the Shroud are scheduled for the Feast of the Holy Cloth, which is celebrated on May 4, the date established in 1506 by Pope Julius II [pictured, portrait by Raphael, ca. 1511]. And two days later will begin a series of lectures as part of "The meetings at Holy Shroud", entitled "A body hast given me – The human story of the Shroud."
Tonight at 21 in the Cathedral of Turin begins with a concert by the Association Concertante – Art and Music Project, "which will perform in the ‘Petite Messe Solennelle’ by Gioacchino Rossini," say the organizers, which include the Museum of the Shroud and the International Centre for Sindonologia. Tomorrow instead, at 18, still in the Cathedral, there will be a Mass celebrated by Archbishop of Turin. Nosiglia. "But at the side of the liturgical celebrations – inform – the date also marks the annual event for a comparison between the members of the International Centre for Sindonologia, whose meeting will be held at the Museum of the Shroud right in the afternoon of May 4, gathering in Turin the leading experts on the Shroud. " Scholars and scientists from all over the Planet "will take stock of the situation on the various subjects’ open ‘connected to the Holy Shroud: an opportunity that presents itself important in light of the recent debate – riaccesosi worldwide in the wake of last month’ television Exposition of Holy Saturday and the concomitant launch the app ‘Shroud 2.0′ – which, in particular, dealt with the issue of the alleged samples of fabric in hands of private parties. "
Monday then the Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud and the Center for Sindonologia will initiate a series of meetings on "A body hast given me – The human story of the Shroud", which will run for five consecutive Mondays (always beginning at 21 at the church of Turin SS. Sudario). conferences – they will all be moderated by Msgr. Giuseppe Ghiberti, president of the Diocesan Commission for the Shroud – "will proceed along a theme centered on the concept of the Son of God who became man taking a body. Through its body Jesus ennobles the human condition and it shares all the events, to the more painful, on the cross.’s body becomes so crucial component of Christian consciousness, the object of faith concerning the Incarnation of the Word and the human condition. "Here are the appointments.
On May 6, Don Roberto Gottardo, Episcopal Vicar of Turin, reflect on "The Shroud shows a body – The body today." On May 13, Ernesto Olivero, founder of SERMIG, will speak about "The body of the Shroud destroyed by suffering. The daily dialogue with suffering. " On May 20, Don Roberto Repole, President of the Italian Theological Association, will speak on "The groom (the King) sleeps. The mystery of the tomb, the body is no longer a man. " May 27: "The awakening of the King", with Don Carlo Neck, professor of dogmatic theology. On June 3: "A body – flesh for our life. The Eucharist, his body in my body ", with Mgr. Giuseppe Anfossi, Bishop Emeritus of Aosta.
Turin Shroud Replica in St. Andrews (Church of England) Tiverton.
From This is The West Country we learn that an artist’s biblical work to be displayed alongside replica Turin Shroud:
Visitors to St Andrew’s Church in Tiverton will be able to view Rosa Tuffney’s acclaimed work alongside one of six official replicas of the Turin Shroud – a piece of linen cloth containing the image of a crucified man’s body, back and front.
The paper reports about a Vatican sanctioned copy (there are about six in Great Britain and at least nine in the U.S. and I imagine more elsewhere):
The Rev Sheath said the shroud’s visit was the largest arranged by a parishioner after they saw it on display at Worcester Cathedral.
He said: “It’s quite a coup for us.
“It will put not just St Andrew’s on the map, but also Tiverton, I’d think.
Wait a minute. St. Andrews is Church of England (Anglican) and it is displaying a Vatican sanctioned copy of the Shroud. I like that! Hurry, the parish web page below shows that you have until May 5th.
So it remains, and perhaps will always remain, one of the great unsolved mysteries of mankind.
Mark Jahne, writing in The Catholic Transcript of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, nicely summarizes a Shroud Encounter presentation at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Simbury, a residential town in the area:
SIMSBURY – Can it be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the Shroud of Turin is the cloth that was wrapped around the body of Jesus when he was crucified 2,000 years ago? No.
But is there a plethora of evidence that strongly suggests that it is what believers claim it is? Yes.
That was the premise behind a two-hour presentation called "Shroud Encounter" on March 10 at St. Catherine of Siena Parish. The slide lecture was conducted by international shroud expert Russ Breault, founder of the Georgia-based Shroud of Turin Education Project Inc. He has lectured on the topic for 25 years.
Focusing on scientific, historic, liturgical, cultural and other evidence, he led an audience of 700 people through the story of the shroud. The 14-foot-long single piece of woven cloth resides behind bullet-proof glass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.
Jahne fininshes off with:
So it remains, and perhaps will always remain, one of the great unsolved mysteries of mankind.
The article goes on from the there for another couple of minutes. It is a nice summary Encountering the Shroud of Turin – The Catholic Transcript Online
Shroud Encounter and Cross Catholic Outreach
Russ Breault has put together a great promotional video for Shroud Encounter at Catholic Churches. Have a look and share it with anyone you think might be interested. (Link is http://vimeo.com/64447649).
Barrie Schwortz: Science is simply man’s attempt to understand God’s creation
On their website they write:
Thanks to all, Speakers, TEDxers and Team! TEDx ViadellaConciliazione has been an awesome experience!
I did not realize that the conference in Rome, yesterday, was video streamed live. Some of us could have watched it. This morning, I did pick up these tweets from the conferences Twitter account:
Anyway, TEDxVDC is tweeting that videos with be available in about a week. In the meantime visit the website and check it out.
TED Comes to the Vatican with Gloria Estefan and Barrie Schwortz
TED Conferences are a big deal. To be a TED speaker is a significant honor (and guarantees YouTube fame forever and ever).
One of TED’s mottos is “Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world”
UPDATE: Be sure to read the comment by John Klotz.
Lizzy Davies in Rome for The Guardian reports that TED comes to the Vatican with Gloria Estefan as speaker:
The raison d’être of the glamorous and globally renowned TED conferences is the dissemination of "ideas worth spreading" – and, if there’s any organisation that thinks it has one of those, it’s the Vatican.
Next week, in a somewhat unusual pairing of the Catholic church and California trend-setting, the two will come together for a Vatican-sponsored day-long series of talks in Rome. Among the speakers are an Italian cardinal, a Serbian basketball star, a Muslim graffiti artist from Birmingham and the Cuban-born American singer Gloria Estefan.
"We wanted to listen to stories from every walk of life," said Giovanna Abbiati, who, along with a group of lay academics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, a pontifical university, came up with the idea of holding a TEDx event with the backing of the Vatican.
Rather than focusing on Catholicism, the day’s theme is religious freedom, and its promotion of inter-faith dialogue appears to chime with the thinking of the new pope.
which includes these two paragraphs . . .
The host of the TEDx event next Friday will be Gianfranco Ravasi (pictured, front-most), the Lombardy-born cardinal who heads the pontifical council for culture and was hailed by one Vatican observer as arguably "the most interesting man in the Catholic church" after he launched an initiative to forge links and prompt dialogue with non-believers known as the Courtyard of the Gentiles.
He is scheduled to be joined on stage by 17 other speakers, including Daniel Libeskind, the architect and designer among whose works is the Jewish Museum in Berlin; Brother Guy Consolmagno, a planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory; and Barrie Schwortz, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew and is an expert on the Turin Shroud. (emphasis mine)
BTW: it is called a TEDx event if it is independently organized as this one is. See TED’s website for more information. Just last month there were over 400 TEDx conferences in 76 different countries.
One of TED’s mottos is “Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world”
Ostensione Televisiva Della Sindone 2013
Various versions of OSTENSIONE TELEVISIVA DELLA SINDONE – 2013 have been popping up on YouTube. Some of them have been removed. Here is one that should play right here in the blog space:
Or CLICK HERE
Holy Saturday Broadcast: SINDONE – Ostensione Televisiva 2013 (1 hour and 33 minutes)
UPDATED: Click to play
Text of Pope Francis’ Remarks for the Televised Exhibition of the Shroud of Turin on Holy Saturday
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I join all of you gathered before the Holy Shroud, and I thank the Lord who, through modern technology, offers us this possibility.
Even if it takes place in this way, we do not merely “look”, but rather we venerate by a prayerful gaze. I would go further: we are in fact looked upon upon ourselves. This face has eyes that are closed, it is the face of one who is dead, and yet mysteriously he is watching us, and in silence he speaks to us.
How is this possible? How is it that the faithful, like you, pause before this icon of a man scourged and crucified? It is because the Man of the Shroud invites us to contemplate Jesus of Nazareth. This image, impressed upon the cloth, speaks to our heart and moves us to climb the hill of Calvary, to look upon the wood of the Cross, and to immerse ourselves in the eloquent silence of love.
Let us therefore allow ourselves to be reached by this look, which is directed not to our eyes but to our heart. In silence, let us listen to what he has to say to us from beyond death itself. By means of the Holy Shroud, the unique and supreme Word of God comes to us: Love made man, incarnate in our history; the merciful love of God who has taken upon himself all the evil of the world to free us from its power.
This disfigured face resembles all those faces of men and women marred by a life which does not respect their dignity, by war and violence which afflict the weakest… And yet, at the same time, the face in the Shroud conveys a great peace; this tortured body expresses a sovereign majesty. It is as if it let a restrained but powerful energy within it shine through, as if to say: have faith, do not lose hope; the power of the love of God, the power of the Risen One overcomes all things.
So, looking upon the Man of the Shroud, I make my own the prayer which Saint Francis of Assisi prayed before the Crucifix:
Most High, glorious God, enlighten the shadows of my heart, and grant me a right faith, a certain hope and perfect charity, sense and understanding, Lord, so that I may accomplish your holy and true command.
Amen.
Source for text and photograph: The Telegraph (Hat tip: Joe Marino)
Stories are rolling out now on the Exhibition of the Shroud of Turin
Nick Squires in Rome for The Telegraph with a brief video clip:
Francis made his first remarks on the mysterious cloth since being elected Pope in a special video message as the shroud was shown live on television for only the second time in its history.
His remarks came on Holy Saturday, which falls between the commemoration of Christ’s crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Francis referred to the 14ft-long strip of sepia fabric, which is imprinted with the face and body of a bearded man, as “the Holy Shroud” and asked: “How is it that the faithful, like you, pause before this icon of a man scourged and crucified? It is because the Man of the Shroud invites us to contemplate Jesus of Nazareth.
“This face has eyes that are closed, it is the face of one who is dead, and yet mysteriously he is watching us, and in silence he speaks to us.”
However his observations did not go beyond the non-committal approach taken by the Catholic Church on the question of the shroud’s authenticity. Observers noted that his use of the word “icon” fell short of the claim by some that the shroud is a “relic” of the crucifixion.
He likened the look of suffering on the face of the man to the pain and horrors endured by the victims of modern war and conflict.
“This disfigured face resembles all those faces of men and women marred by a life which does not respect their dignity, by war and violence which afflict the weakest. And yet at the same time the face in the shroud conveys a great peace; this tortured body expresses a sovereign majesty.”
Since being elected the successor to Benedict XVI earlier this month, the Argentinean Pope has repeatedly called for the need to protect the weak, vulnerable and dispossessed in society.
The Pope sent the message as an introduction to a 90-minute broadcast on RAI, the state television network, from Turin Cathedral, where the shroud is kept in a special climate-controlled case.
The broadcast on Saturday afternoon commemorated the 40th anniversary of the last time the shroud was shown for an extended period, live on Italian television, under Pope Paul VI in 1973.
The Vatican has never pronounced one way or the other whether it believes the shroud to be genuine.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, when he was still cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, . . .
Breaking News: Links to See the Shroud Now
Barrie Schwortz just found this link, possibly from a satellite feed, and posted it on his site (www.shroud.com) :
View the Television Exposition
Also, this is a bing translation from Ostension du Saint-Suaire de Turin:
Saturday Saint from 5: 10 p.m., it will be possible to follow on KTO the exceptional television ostension of the Holy Shroud of Turin. Decided by Benedict XVI, the ceremony will be held in camera in the Duomo. The ostension of half an hour will take place during the ceremony, which lasted 1 hour and a half.
That is 12:10 pm EDT (New York). I have a streaming picture. Anyone know Italian? And are these the same broadcasts? I just want to get it up there fast.
I also had the same picture without sound on my iPhone from a bootleg streaming site in France. It lasted two minutes then failed. No luck at all with the RAI streaming site.
Awaiting Live Stream from RAI Uno
Click HERE or on the image below to be taken to RAI Uno’s streaming page. let’s hope and assume that the message, “We apologize. The content is not available due to copyright restrictions,” will not appear during the exhibition.
- Saturday, March 30 – 11:10 a.m Italian time (10:10 a.m. GMT / 6:10 a.m. EDT) – RAI Uno – “A sua immagine”, Shroud Special: L’attesa dell’Ostensione (Waiting for the Exhibition)
- Saturday, March 30 – 5:15 p.m. Italian time (4:15 p.m. GMT / 12:15 p.m. EDT) – RAI Uno – “A sua immagine” – Sindone: i segni della Passione (Shroud: The Signs of the Passion)
What’s the Story: Fanti’s Book or the Holy Saturday TV Exhibition?
Not that any serious student of the Shroud of Turin is going find anything new or particularly meaningful in the ABC Good Morning America coverage, but our good friend and frequent contributor on this blog, Russ Breault, was great.
But what is the news story, here?
- Is the story the upcoming exhibition tomorrow with billions set to watch it live? Yes ABC said ‘billions’ along the bottom of the screen.
- Or is the story that investigators at the University of Padua have shown that the shroud might be real despite carbon dating in the past? Did ABC actually say that skeptics call it the Fraud of Turin?
- Or is the story the iPhone app, Shroud 2.0? It was barely mentioned.
I don’t think the planners of the exhibition in Turin were counting on the Fanti’s book getting all this attention. Has it overshadowed Turin’s plans for Saturday or provided needed publicity?
Breaking News: Pope Francis to Introduce the Shroud of Turin Saturday
ANSA via La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (English Edition) is reporting:
(ANSA) – Turin, March 27 – Pope Francis will appear on TV to introduce the second-ever appearance of the Holy Shroud of Turin on Italian airwaves Saturday. "It will be a message of intense spiritual scope, charged with positivity, which will help (people) never to lose hope," said Turin Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia in announcing Wednesday the pope’s intro for the famous relic bearing the imprint of a Christ-lke body. The shroud, revered as the winding sheet used to cover Christ’s body after the crucifixion but carbon-dated to the Middle Ages, will be shown on state broadcaster RAI’s first channel from 17:10 to 18:40 Saturday, the day before the Easter feast commemorating the resurrection. Catholic scientific experts have disputed the carbon dating indicating the shroud is a medieval forgery and said they have found traces of pollen from the Holy Land. The Catholic Church has neither formally endorsed nor rejected the shroud, which bears an apparently burned-on image of a dead man resembling classic depictions of Christ.
This should be an opportunity for MSM coverage.
News on the Shroud for Good Friday and Holy Saturday
Emanuela Marinelli at www.sindone.info is doing what she can to help those of us who read English with news about the shroud. You should bookmark her English language www.shroud.it/NEWS.HTM page. Here is some material from it with RAI programming details and links. I recommend experimenting with the links before the broadcasts if you want to watch the live stream broadcasts.
This is the RAI TV programming concerning the appointments on the Shroud for Good Friday and Holy Saturday:
Friday, March 29 – 2:10 p.m. Italian time (1.10 p.m. GMT) – RAI Uno – “A sua immagine”, Good Friday special: L’uomo della Sindone (The Man of the Shroud)
Friday, March 29 – 8:30 p.m. Italian time (7:30 p.m. GMT) – RAI Uno – “Porta a Porta”, Good Friday special: Sindone, mistero svelato? (The Shroud, mystery revealed?)
Saturday, March 30 – 11:10 a.m Italian time (10:10 a.m. GMT) – RAI Uno – “A sua immagine”, Shroud Special: L’attesa dell’Ostensione (Waiting for the Exhibition)
Saturday, March 30 – 5:15 p.m. Italian time (4:15 p.m. GMT) – RAI Uno – “A sua immagine” – Sindone: i segni della Passione (Shroud: The Signs of the Passion)
- Special TV Exhibition of the Shroud of ‘A Sua Immagine’ on March 30, 2013 at 11:30 a.m. Italian time (10:30 a.m. GMT)
On the occasion of the extraordinary Exhibition of the Shroud, the transmission will follow the event live worldwide on RAI Uno on Saturday March 30, 2013 at 11.30 a.m. Italian time (10:30 a.m. GMT).
After the 2010 Exhibition, which saw the participation of 2 million pilgrims from all over the world, and 40 years after the first TV Exhibition, broadcast live on November 23, 1973, the Shroud, through the cameras of A Sua Immagine will be seen all over the world.
Rosario Carello, with guests in the studio, will reconstruct the history and the deep spiritual meaning of the Holy Cloth, called by Benedict XVI "Icon of Holy Saturday."
We will show images of the unveiling of the Shroud, taken from the shrine in which it is placed and positioned for the Exhibition. We will relive the moments of the past Exhibitions. We will go into the mysterious origin of this image, in order to document the impressive correspondence with the story of the Passion of Christ in the Gospels: the sores, the blood, the wounds of the crown of thorns, the hits of the scourges. (RAI – A Sua Immagine website, 25 Marzo 2013)
The Man of the Shroud – Special Good Friday episode of ‘A Sua Immagine’ on March 29, 2013 at 2:10 p.m. Italian time (1:10 p.m. GMT)
It will be the Man of the Shroud the center of the usual Good Friday episode of ‘A Sua Immagine’. Rosario Carello, with studio guests, will draw a journey to discover the figure of How tall was Jesus? How was His body? What did His face look like? We will try to reconstruct the image of Christ from the marks on the Shroud.Jesus. Waiting for the TV Exhibition of the Shroud, scheduled for Saturday, March 30, during the broadcast of Friday we will rebuild the identikit of the man Jesus, starting from the linen that wrapped Him in the Sepulchre.
On Good Friday, the day full of greatness and mystery, the traces of the precious relic will lead us into the secret of the Passion of Christ. Francesca Fialdini will lead us in the Museum of the Shroud of Turin, to show us the rebuilding of some objects, symbol of the Passion: the crown, the nails, the cross. We will see how in the Shroud we can see not only the darkness of death, but the light of the Resurrection. During the episode we will go in search of experiences that tell the importance of the Shroud for the spirituality and the faith of contemporary believers. (RAI – A Sua Immagine website, March 25, 2013)
The Archbishop of Turin, Mgr Cesare Nosiglia, confirms that he will make the request to Pope Francis to receive a video message that will be transmitted on the occasion of the extraordinary TV Exhibition of the Shroud, on Holy Saturday. He excludes instead the hypothesis, spread on social media, that the Pope can attend in person to the Exhibition.
The declaration was released to the microphones of Prima Radio on March 14, 2013. Below is the text of that declaration:
“It is impossible to come [to Turin], it is something absolutely inconceivable, because it is on Holy Saturday, it is a day in which the Pope has the celebration at St. Peter’s church, almost at that time or right after, so it would be something really impossible. The speech was different; it concerned a televised message, also recorded, if necessary (if not that day, because they are very intense days), of a few minutes, about the fact that he could be present during this Exhibition. The thing, I think, was quite possible, even indicatively examined with Benedict XVI, then, obviously, happened what has happened, now we will try to reach him too, having regard also this, let’s say ‘warning’, that he has towards his own Piedmontese land. I hope that we can find an answer, but I do not know, because the days are very intense, very hectic, I think, for him too, so we do not expect nothing, absolutely. But I think that we will try to make the request, and then we will see also if it can be accepted.” (Diocesi di Torino website, March 17, 2013)
Exhibition on March 30 is only on television
Access to the Cathedral limited to a small group of young people and sick people. For everyone live broadcast around the world on RAI Uno on March 30. Diocesan Convention on Saturday March 16.
The Exhibition of the Shroud, on Holy Saturday March 30, 2013, will only be "televised": there is no access to the Cathedral except for a small group of sick people and their carers, and young people who have begun the journey of the Synod. Mgr. Nosiglia, presenting the initiative last Friday to reporters, explained the meaning and the terms of this extraordinary "event": to offer to television viewers all over the world images of the Shroud, in the context of their prayer of Holy Saturday, as a chance to reflect on the suffering and death of Christ, and the pain in the contemporary world.
So this is a TV show, not a "pilgrimage to the Shroud" as the latest Exhibitions were. The broadcast will air on the afternoon of 30 March on RAI Uno (the exact time will be specified by RAI). the public will not be able to access in any way to the Duomo; the same Piazza San Giovanni will not be fully accessible, since it will receive, first of all, transit and parking of vehicles transporting the sick people.
The information will be disseminated not only on the diocesan website, but also on the Voce del Popolo (Turin Diocese’s weekly magazine) and on the website www.sindone.org and www.diocesi.torino.it.
The Web-TV missionidonbosco.tv will try to make the visitors participate in the event. The time of the Exhibition is being developed and it will be communicated as soon as possible. (Diocese of Turin website, March 8, 2013)
Source: Collegamento pro Sindone – News
RAI Uno Shroud Exhibit
Maria da Glória writes:
I can’t help sending you this e-mail because I was eagerly searching RAI uno website to know at what time will be Shroud exhibit bradcast and I’ve just known it will happen next saturday March 30 at 17:15 ( ITALIAN TIME) from San Giovanni Battista cathedral.
I’ll tell you the steps I followed:
I «googled» RAI uno and in the website searched « Guida Programmi, Sab 30» and found « 17:15 Da Duomo di Torino A sua immagine Sindone i segni della Passione » ( I guess it translates in english «From the cathedral of Turin her Shroud Image the sign of the Passion» )
It’s a duty to share this information just now, with all the «Shroudies» of your wonderful blog.
Okay, here is what I have found:
1) You can stream RAI Uno here.
2) For smartphones and tablets check you App store. I found a good app in the Apple iPhone store. It’s free and works well if you have Wi-Fi access.
Russ Breault at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Pompano Beach
Russ Breault writes:
I will be speaking at Saint Gabriel Catholic Church at 731 North Ocean Blvd in Pompano Beach, FL on Sunday April 7th at 4:00 PM. It is sponsored by Cross International. It is a fund raiser for their humanitarian relief efforts around the world so there will be a $15 admission fee or $12 in advance.
Palm Sunday: Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
From the The Lower Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. By Pietro Lorenzetti ca. 1320
Is the Shroud real? Probably.
The Shroud of Turin may be the real burial cloth of Jesus. The carbon dating, once seemingly proving it was a medieval fake, is now widely thought of as suspect and meaningless. Even the famous Atheist Richard Dawkins admits it is controversial. Christopher Ramsey, the director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory, thinks more testing is needed. So do many other scientists and archeologists. This is because there are significant scientific and non-religious reasons to doubt the validity of the tests. Chemical analysis, all nicely peer-reviewed in scientific journals and subsequently confirmed by numerous chemists, shows that samples tested are chemically unlike the whole cloth. It was probably a mixture of older threads and newer threads woven into the cloth as part of a medieval repair. Recent robust statistical studies add weight to this theory. Philip Ball, the former physical science editor for Nature when the carbon dating results were published, recently wrote: “It’s fair to say that, despite the seemingly definitive tests in 1988, the status of the Shroud of Turin is murkier than ever.” If we wish to be scientific we must admit we do not know how old the cloth is. But if the newer thread is about half of what was tested – and some evidence suggests that – it is possible that the cloth is from the time of Christ.
No one has a good idea how front and back images of a crucified man came to be on the cloth. Yes, it is possible to create images that look similar. But no one has created images that match the chemistry, peculiar superficiality and profoundly mysterious three-dimensional information content of the images on the Shroud. Again, this is all published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
We simply do not have enough reliable information to arrive at a scientifically rigorous conclusion. Years ago, as a skeptic of the Shroud, I came to realize that while I might believe it was a fake, I could not know so from the facts. Now, as someone who believes it is the real burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, I similarly realize that a leap of faith over unanswered questions is essential.
My name is Dan Porter. Please email me at DanielRobertPorter@gmail.com
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