Saturday, May 30, 1998

As millions view shroud in Italy, the mystery persists: Is it Christ's?

By Gregory Katz / The Dallas Morning News

TURIN, Italy -- Huge crowds of believers are flocking to a newly o pened display of the Shroud of Turin despite the conclusions of scientists who say that the mysterious cloth cannot be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ.

More than 1.6 million people, including Pope John Paul II, have already made reservations to attend the two-month exhibition, the first public display of the shroud in 20 years and only the fourth this century.

Organizers expect as many as 3 million people to view the shroud before it is removed from public display on June 14. Most come from Italy and France, but there has been a steady flow of pilgrims from the United States, Asia and Latin America.

They stand, silent and sometimes tearful, in front of the bloodstained cloth, gazing in awe at the faint image of a crucified man whose wounds match those inflicted on Jesus Christ as described in the Gospels.

Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, many of the visitors believe that the strange and powerful image was imprinted on the cloth by a supernatural burst of energy that accompanied the resurrection.

The gigantic response to the first public unveiling of the shroud in 20 years proves that the faithful are not deterred by the work of a team of scientists who used carbon-14 dating techniques in 1988 and concluded that the linen cloth comes from the medieval era, not the time of Christ.

Believers in the shroud's authenticity -- and they are legion -- have been buoyed by challenges to the validity of the carbon tests and by new scientific data suggesting that the cloth may in fact have come from Jerusalem, where Jesus was put to death.

"We know that the science went wrong, and the general public is not impressed by the carbon-14 results," said Virginia Crispino, an American scholar who has researched the shroud for 28 years. "The millions of people coming to Turin are not coming to see a fake. I'm very pleased with the number of people coming."

She said the experience of standing in front of the actual cloth that Jesus was wrapped in, and looking at the image left by his bloodstained body in the charged moments before his resurrection, changed the course of her life.

"The shroud goes very deeply into a person," said Mrs. Crispino, who is in Turin for the duration of the exhibition. "You can't be silent about it. It's a perfect mirror of the Gospels. It's a physical witness to the humanity and suffering of Christ, and a witness to his resurrection. When you see it, it makes you humble, and it makes you want to be a better person. The miracle of the shroud is the effect it has on people who go to see it."

The shroud has been venerated by Pope John Paul II and many of his predecessors, but the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church are careful not to state that the shroud is definitely the actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ. They say instead that the shroud is an important symbol of Christ's pain.

Researchers who believe further scientific tests may establish that the shroud is actually from the time of Christ contend that the radiocarbon test results are flawed because of biological and chemical contamination of the shroud during the centuries since the crucifixion.

They hold that the results are inaccurate because the shroud was exposed to a serious fire when it was in the French town of Chambery in 1532 and that carbon from the smoke and flames landed on the shroud, greatly altering its carbon levels and altering the test results.

Those who question the test results also say the shroud has been altered by a light coating of micro-organisms that have attached themselves to the cloth this century.

Many scholars cite the documented presence of small quantities of pollen from a plant that grows only near Jerusalem as proof that the shroud comes from the Holy Land and was not produced in Europe during the Middle Ages, as the carbon tests suggest.

"These two types of contamination may have ruined those tests," said Bruno Barberis, president of the International Center of Shroud Studies in Turin. "Recent studies on other ancient cloths proves that if a cloth has been exposed to fire it can modify the carbon dating results substantially."

Research shows that a cloth that has been contaminated could be incorrectly judged by radiocarbon exams to be "centuries younger" than it really is, he said, making it possible for the shroud to be from Christ's era.

He said the pollen from Jerusalem does not prove the age of the cloth but rules out the prospect that the shroud was fabricated in Europe.

"It is quite impossible for this pollen to have landed on the shroud during its European period; it comes from a plant found only near Jerusalem, and this means the shroud was there," said Barberis, who is also a professor at the University of Turin. "Since we can account for the whereabouts of the shroud since the 14th century -- when it has only been in France and Italy -- we can say it was in Jerusalem before that time."

The biggest mystery, he said, is how the image of a crucified man was transferred to the cloth. As yet, science has produced no plausible explanation for the image, which is not painted on, leaving open the possibility that divine forces were at work, Barberis said.

"My personal conclusion is that science cannot explain the shroud," he said. "Maybe in 10, 20 or 50 years it will be possible, but if up to now there is no scientific explanation, it may be because the image is not of human origin."

But scientists who worked on the carbon tests view the attacks on the veracity of their results as wishful thinking by researchers whose views are shaped by their religious beliefs or -- in some cases -- by having a vested interest in preserving the myth of the shroud's authenticity.

Paul Damon, a University of Arizona professor who tested a small sample of the shroud, said that three separate research teams operating in three separate countries all concluded that the cloth was made no earlier than 1262 and no later than 1384.

He said there was a slight margin of error but that the tests made absolutely certain that the shroud does not come from the time of Christ. The small cloth samples were not taken from scorched parts of the shroud, eliminating the possibility that the 1532 fire would affect the tests, he said.

"It was clear within the first few minutes of testing that it couldn't be from the first century," said Damon.

He also said logic suggests that the image on the cloth does not come from the actual body of a crucified man.

"The image on the shroud is quite perfect," he said. "But if you wrap somebody in a shroud, then the linen would drape around the face, and so the image on the linen would be distorted. But the image is not distorted."

Damon said he is not surprised that many people reject these conclusions and that researchers continue to insist that the shroud is authentic.

"I don't say it was a fake on the part of the artist; he or she was probably commissioned to do it, and it's a magnificent image," he said. "I'm not surprised by the veneration and the crowds. There is a strong will to believe, and it's also true that books make a lot of money and a lot of people are making money on this, and they just say the carbon tests were wrong."

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It is certainly true that the economy of Turin would suffer if the shroud ceased to attract visitors from throughout the world. The current exposition is expected to bring several million pilgrims to the city, boosting the hotel and restaurant industries, and another display is planned for the year 2000.

The city nearly lost the cloth that gives it worldwide fame in April when a disastrous fire broke out in the cathedral where the shroud was stored in a silver case.

But firefighter Mario Trematore, risking his life as fiery wood and marble fell all around him, used a hammer to break through several layers of bulletproof glass and carried the case to safety. Thousands cheered as he emerged from the cathedral with the shroud intact.

The dramatic rescue only added to the shroud's mystique, and the experience transformed Trematore from a casual churchgoer into a firm believer in the authenticity of the shroud and the message it holds.

"When I rushed into the cathedral I wasn't thinking of the shroud, but then I saw a crucifix on the altar and it seemed to open its arms to me," he said. "Then I thought of the shroud and what it represents to two billion people, and I decided I must save it. As soon as this thought came into my mind, I lost all fear of dying. When I carried the case out, the case had no weight at all. I did not feel that I was carrying a case, it was like carrying a newborn. I felt a joy I wish all men could experience."

He used to attend church only as a way to escape the scorching heat of summer, but he has now become a frequent visitor to the cathedral where the shroud is on display. He is sometimes stopped and thanked by Italians who recognize him from television news reports about the fire.

"I don't feel like a hero, I feel like the donkey who carried Jesus on his shoulders," said Trematore. "But I feel tremendous emotion when I look at the shroud. I feel like an assassin, because we are sinners and he wouldn't have died on the cross if we didn't kill him with our sins. The people come to see the shroud because they need love, and they see universal love in Jesus' suffering."

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(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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