Shroud of Turin update - Pope Francis supports the relic as a religious icon
Echo essay published in The Conversation by :
I mentioned it to our always-on-the-ball senior religion editor, Kalpana Jain, who already had a story in the works examining the controversy and evidence surrounding the Shroud of Turin. My mother clearly also has a good nose for news, as the article became one of last week’s top stories in terms of reader engagement.
In it, Eric Vanden Eykel, a scholar of early Christianity, explores the history of the shroud – which first appeared publicly in 1354 – and explains the context from which it emerged as well as the scientific investigations to determine its age. As for the 2022 study, he noted that the scientists emphasized that the dating method they used held up only if the shroud had been stored in relatively constant temperature and humidity for all those centuries – “highly unlikely” for an artifact that old.
“Ultimately, the Shroud of Turin will continue to intrigue and draw both believers and skeptics into a debate that has spanned centuries,” Vanden Eykel writes. “But I believe that the shroud encourages viewers to think about how history, art and belief come together and influence how we see the past.”
The shroud and its history: The first public appearance of the shroud was in 1354, when it was displayed publicly in Lirey, a small commune in central France. Christian pilgrims traveled from all over to gaze upon the image of the crucified Jesus.
Pilgrimages like this were common during the Middle Ages, when relics of holy people began to appear throughout Europe. The relic trade was big business at the time; relics were bought and sold, and pilgrims often paid a fee to visit them.
Pope Francis once referred to the shroud as an “icon,” a type of religious art that can be used for a variety of purposes, including teaching, theological expression and even worship. Without addressing the authenticity of the shroud, the pope suggested that by prompting reflection on the face and body of the crucified Jesus, the shroud encouraged people to also consider those around them who may be suffering.
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, houses a fascinating artifact: a massive cloth shroud that bears the shadowy image of a man who appears to have been crucified.
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| Pope Francis prays in front of the Holy Shroud in the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista during a visit to Turin, Italy, in 2015. Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images |
By Eric Vanden Eykel: My mother pinged me the other day to suggest we do a story on claims of authenticity regarding the Shroud of Turin, which some Catholics believe is the cloth used to bury Jesus. The cloth bears the “shadowy image of a man who appears to have been crucified,” which believers say was miraculously imprinted when he was resurrected. A 2022, study that suggested the shroud could be 2,000 years old, recently got a lot of attention from backers of this claim.
I mentioned it to our always-on-the-ball senior religion editor, Kalpana Jain, who already had a story in the works examining the controversy and evidence surrounding the Shroud of Turin. My mother clearly also has a good nose for news, as the article became one of last week’s top stories in terms of reader engagement.
In it, Eric Vanden Eykel, a scholar of early Christianity, explores the history of the shroud – which first appeared publicly in 1354 – and explains the context from which it emerged as well as the scientific investigations to determine its age. As for the 2022 study, he noted that the scientists emphasized that the dating method they used held up only if the shroud had been stored in relatively constant temperature and humidity for all those centuries – “highly unlikely” for an artifact that old.
“Ultimately, the Shroud of Turin will continue to intrigue and draw both believers and skeptics into a debate that has spanned centuries,” Vanden Eykel writes. “But I believe that the shroud encourages viewers to think about how history, art and belief come together and influence how we see the past.”
The shroud and its history: The first public appearance of the shroud was in 1354, when it was displayed publicly in Lirey, a small commune in central France. Christian pilgrims traveled from all over to gaze upon the image of the crucified Jesus.
Pilgrimages like this were common during the Middle Ages, when relics of holy people began to appear throughout Europe. The relic trade was big business at the time; relics were bought and sold, and pilgrims often paid a fee to visit them.
Pope Francis once referred to the shroud as an “icon,” a type of religious art that can be used for a variety of purposes, including teaching, theological expression and even worship. Without addressing the authenticity of the shroud, the pope suggested that by prompting reflection on the face and body of the crucified Jesus, the shroud encouraged people to also consider those around them who may be suffering.
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