Collegamento pro Sindone

NEWS 2005

On Sunday, 11 September 2005 Prof. Silvano Scannerini died. He was a biologist and a member of both the Commission for the Shroud preservation and the Centro Internazionale di Sindonologia of Turin. He wrote many articles on the botanical traces present on the Shroud. (La Voce del Popolo n. 33, September 18, 2005, p. 9)

From 8 to 11 September 2005 the 3° International Dallas (Texas - USA) Conference on the Shroud, organized by the American Shroud of Turin Association for Research AMSTAR and the Holy Shroud Guild together with the Centro Internazionale di Sindonologia of Turin was held. Several international lecturers spoke, discussing on the present Shroud studies and on the future perspectives of research.

Poletto exalts the Shroud “Challenge of the faith” – A passionate homily of the cardinal: “We know for sure that it is not a false" - The cover of the case is presented (Sara Strippoli, La Repubblica, Torino cronaca, May 5, 2005, p. VI).

A new preparation of the case – A new cover of the case containing the Holy Shroud at Turin's Cathedral chapel will be unveiled today by Turin bishop, card. Severino Poletto, at the end of an Eucharistic celebration on the Holy Shroud Feast. In fact, the Holy Shroud Conservation Committee had established that the sheet should be kept extended to avoid its deterioration. A high-tech and high-security reliquary was built for this reason, but it had the defect of being more than five meters in length. Moreover, its armoured covering for security reasons and the room with a controlled climate ended up to constitute, according to the Turin diocese, "a cold and faceless place". Which is why they thought of a new preparation, that will be presented today. They have turned again to a light, fireproof and easy to remove cloth, gold-coloured. Along all the front of the case there is the traditional prayer that has accompanied the veneration of the Holy Shroud for centuries: "Tuam Sindonem veneramur, Domine, et tuam recolimus Passionem". A “modern and sober” design was so conceived, to better individualize the essence of the Holy Shroud message. The symbols of the “Arma Christi”, iconography linked to the Passion, were interpreted by a modern cross, with the crown of thorns and the nails entwined, posed on a purple strip that cross the case in the middle. The lighting system of the chapel too has been upgraded to fit the restyling (AGI, May 4, 2005).

The Chapel with the new preparation of the case

The new preparation of the case

On Tuesday, April 19 Card. Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope and chose Benedict XVI as his name. The new Pope has always shown his attention for the Holy Shroud, which he also mentioned during the recent Way of the Cross on Good Friday, March 25, in his meditation for the eleventh station, Jesus is nailed to the Cross: “The Shroud of Turin gives us an idea of the unbelievable cruelty of this procedure”. In Avvenire of April 20, on page 8, we can find the text of a theological reflection written by Card. Ratzinger in 2002 for the Meeting in Rimini; there you can also read: “He Who is the Beauty Itself has let His Face be hit, has let Himself be spat on and crowned of thorns. The Holy Shroud of Turin can let us imagine all that in a touching way. But just in such a disfigured Face the authentic, extreme Beauty appears: the beauty of the love which lasts "unto the end" and which, just in this, reveals itself as stronger than falsehood and violence”. (Emanuela and Maurizio Marinelli, April 20, 2005).

Pope Benedict XVI

On April 2 evening, on the eve of the Divine Mercy feast, Our Lord called to Himself the Holy Father John Paul II. With him in 1983 the Shroud, given by Umberto II of Savoy, came back to St. Peter's successor, the apostle who first saw it empty, in the Holy Sepulchre. The Pope, we all remember on his knees in front of the worshipped Relic during the 1998 Exhibition, now is contemplating forever that bright Face he loved so much.(Emanuela and Maurizio Marinelli, April 2, 2005).

John Paul II in front of the Shroud in 1998

Sad news for the Shroud world: renowned Shroud expert Raymond N. Rogers died on March 8, 2005.

To know a veil - Attempts to date the Turin Shroud are a great game, says Philip Ball, but don't imagine that they will convince anyone. (Philip Ball, news@nature.com, January 28, 2005).

“Certainly not medieval! The Shroud dates back to Jesus’ times” – So the miracle of the scientific method lives again - The mystery and the science. (Franco Battaglia, Il Giornale, February 2, 2005, p. 14).

The Shroud converts the anti-Shroud scientist – The mystery of the Holy Linen - The American chemist Raymond Rogers had confuted the truthfulness of Christ’s image, but in the end he has changed his mind: “Certainly not medieval! That cloth dates to Jesus’ times.” (Nino Materi, Il Giornale, February 2, 2005, p. 14).

New findings make scientists discuss on the dating of the Shroud - Professor Rogers asserts that the sample analyzed by C14 is different from the main linen - A heated debate is being provoked by the study carried out by the chemist Raymond Rogers, member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and published in the scientific magazine Thermochimica Acta, according which the result of the analysis by Carbon 14 – that dated the Shroud between 1260 and 1390 A.D. – is not truthful, since a fragment of cloth very different from the main linen type was used. (Zenit, Rome, February 2, 2005).

New chemical tests on the Shroud confute its medieval dating - The linen would be in fact much more ancient - On January 19 the AMSTAR (The American Shroud of Turin Association for Research), a scientific organization that devotes itself to the research on the Holy Shroud of Turin, announced that the 1988 C14 test was not carried out on the original burial sheet, but rather on a re-woven area of the Shroud, so producing a wrong dating. (Zenit, Rome, January 31, 2005).

Shroud of Turin could date to Jesus' time - A chemist who worked on testing of the Shroud of Turin says new analysis of the fiber indicates the cloth that some say was the burial linen of Jesus could be up to 3,000 years old. (Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press, Rome, January 29, 2005).

Scientist says Turin Shroud not a medieval fake - The Shroud of Turin, which some Christians believe is Jesus Christ's burial cloth, may not be the fake scientific tests have concluded because they analyzed a patch put on it, according to a U.S. scientist. (Reuters, Paris, January 28, 2005).

Ghiberti's pronouncement on my analyses - It is interesting that Msgr. Ghiberti thinks I am supporting the Benford and Marino hypothesis that the radiocarbon sample was taken from an "invisible reweave." Much to the contrary: I believed that it would be easy completely to refute them. It is highly embarrassing that I could not. (Message of Raymond N. Rogers to Collegamento pro Sindone, January 23, 2005).

AMSTAR made a public announcement through an International Press Release. We stand firmly behind it. Science has spoken. Dr. Rogers's paper speaks for itself. No further statements from our part are necessary. Further questions, if any, should be addressed directly to Dr. Rogers who naturally is the most qualified to answer them. The paper it very important. Misinterpretations by the press should be avoided by any cost. We wish our Symposium in Dallas to be the legitimate scene of scientific debate about this and other important scientific questions. (Message of AMSTAR to Collegamento pro Sindone, January 22, 2005).

The darn of the Shroud - A new USA study makes scholars debate: the C14 dating is not reliable because it is based on a Medieval “patch” (Giorgio Ballabio, Avvenire, January 22, 2005, p. 23).

New chemical testing points to ancient origin for burial Shroud of Jesus - Los Alamos scientist proves 1988 Carbon-14 dating of the Shroud of Turin used invalid rewoven sample - The American Shroud of Turin Association for Research (AMSTAR), a scientific organization dedicated to research on the enigmatic Shroud of Turin, thought by many to be the burial cloth of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth, announced today that the 1988 Carbon-14 test was not done on the original burial cloth, but rather on a rewoven shroud patch creating an erroneous date for the actual age of the Shroud. The Shroud of Turin is a large piece of linen cloth that shows the faint full-body image of a blood-covered man on its surface. Because many believe it to be the burial cloth of Jesus, researchers have tried to determine its origin though numerous modern scientific methods, including Carbon-14 tests done at three radiocarbon labs which set the age of the artifact at between AD 1260 and 1390. "Now conclusive evidence, gathered over the past two years, proves that the sample used to date the Shroud was actually taken from an expertly-done rewoven patch," says AMSTAR President, Tom D'Muhala. "Chemical testing indicates that the linen Shroud is actually very old - much older than the published 1988 radiocarbon date." "As unlikely as it seems, the sample used to test the age of the Shroud of Turin in 1988 was taken from a rewoven area of the Shroud," reports chemist Raymond Rogers, a fellow of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Rogers' new findings are published in the current issue of Thermochimica Acta, a chemistry peer reviewed scientific journal. "Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin which is currently housed at The Turin Cathedral in Italy," says Rogers. "The radiocarbon sample has completely different chemical properties than the main part of the shroud relic," explains Rogers. "The sample tested was dyed using technology that began to appear in Italy about the time the Crusaders' last bastion fell to the Mameluke Turks in AD 1291. The radiocarbon sample cannot be older than about AD 1290, agreeing with the age determined in 1988. However, the Shroud itself is actually much older." Rogers' new research clearly disproves the 1988 findings announced by British Museum spokesperson, Mike Tite, when he declared that the Shroud was of medieval origin and probably "a hoax." The British Museum coordinated the 1988 radiocarbon tests and acted as the official clearing house for all findings. Almost immediately, Shroud analysts questioned the validity of the sample used for radiocarbon dating. Researchers using high-resolution photographs of the Shroud found indications of an "invisible" reweave in the area used for testing. However, belief tilted strongly toward the more "scientific" method of radiocarbon dating. Rogers' recent analysis of an authentic sample taken from the radiocarbon sample proves that the researchers were right to question the 1988 results. As a result of his own research and chemical tests, Rogers concluded that the radiocarbon sample was cut from a medieval patch, and is totally different in composition from the main part of the Shroud of Turin. (Press Release, Dallas (Texas, USA), January 19, 2005).

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