Shroud of Turin put on public display

The Shroud of Turin went on display for a special TV appearance Saturday amid new research disputing claims it’s a medieval fake and purporting to date the linen some say was Jesus’ burial cloth to around the time of his death.

Pope Francis sent a special video message to the event in Turin’s cathedral, but made no claim that the image on the shroud of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ was really that of Jesus.

Many experts stand by carbon-dating of scraps of the cloth that date it to the 13th or 14th century. However, some have suggested the dating results might have been skewed by contamination and have called for a larger sample to be analyzed.

The Vatican has tiptoed around just what the cloth is, calling it a powerful symbol of Christ’s suffering while making no claim to its authenticity.

The 14-foot-long, 3.5-foot-wide cloth is kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case in Turin’s cathedral, but is rarely open to the public.

On Saturday, a few hundred people, many in wheelchairs, were invited inside the cathedral for the service, which was presided over by Turin’s archbishop.

The display coincided with the release of a book based on new scientific tests on the shroud that researchers say date the cloth to the 1st century. The research in “The Mystery of the Shroud,” by Giulio Fanti of the University of Padua and journalist Saverio Gaeta, is based on chemical and mechanical tests on fibers of material extracted for the carbon-dating research. An article with the findings is expected to be submitted for peer-review.

Associated Press