Part 1 & 2 of the Pope's reflection on the Shroud of Turin

Part 1
Part 2

World Travelling ‘Shroud of Turin’ Replica on Exhibition
in the Peterborough Diocese
April 29th to June 4th  

The world’s only life-size travelling replica of the ‘Shroud of Turin’, complete with photos and research, was on display at St. Paul Catholic Church in Lakefield Ontario for 30 days starting on April 29th and ending on May 28th, 2006 as part of a tour through Ontario. The exhibit, non-denominational in nature and free to the public, was open Monday to Friday 12 noon to 8 pm as well as Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 3 pm and was visited by well over 5000 people.

Faith and science often find themselves at odds these days. But the fact that their relationship is not mutually exclusive or opposed to each other is embodied in the exhibit brought to the St. Paul Catholic Church by the Evangelization Office of the Diocese. The ‘Shroud of Turin’ exhibit offered a 32 panel display with detailed explanations, an 8-foot cross and the actual life-size replica, all together weighing approximately 2600 lbs. In addition, a one-hour video presentation explained the history and the scientific evidence of the shroud. Because of the considerable size, weight and duration of the exhibit, St. Paul Catholic Church in Lakefield was at first the only location in the Peterborough Diocese able to facilitate this display. But due to popular demand the stay of the exhibit was extended in our Diocese. It was taken to St. Paul Church in Gravenhurst, where it was on display from May 29th to June 4th in order to allow more people in the northern parts of the Diocese to visit and see for themselves the fascinating evidence of the Shroud of Turin.

The ‘Shroud of Turin’ is a 4.5 m piece of thin, mysteriously marked linen that has fascinated the world for 2000 years. Scholars, theologians, art historians, medical examiners, botanists, photographic imaging experts, carbon dating analysts, forensic pathologists and a host of other professionals at the world’s most famous laboratories continue to study the evidence of the Shroud; an evidence, which so far has led to only one logical explanation: that the shroud is indeed the burial cloth of Jesus Christ and that the image mysteriously left on it is as close to a proof of the resurrection as people will ever get.

The real Shroud reposes in Turin’s Cathedral and is so fragile that it is usually only taken out and exhibited once every 25 years, most recently in the Great Jubilee Year 2000.  However, a team led by Monsignor Giulio Ricci, president of the Roman Centre for the study of the Holy Shroud (Centro Romano di Sindologia) and the Eastern Kodak Corporation have mounted an exhibition that includes the only life-size replica of the Shroud in the world, accompanied by 66 photographic and text panels that tell the remarkable story of Christianity’s most famous relic.

The Catholic Church, now the owner of the actual Shroud, has made no pronouncements on the scientific evidence. Pope John Paul II left to scientists the task of continuing to investigate and reach adequate answers to questions connected to the Shroud. However, he personally arranged for expositions for the faithful in 1998 and in the Jubilee Year two years later. He attended the first himself and called the Shroud a “mirror of the Gospels and a unique sign that points to Jesus.”

Following is the reflection of Pope John Paul II on the Shroud of Turin