The Truth About The Shroud of Turin

Does the Shroud of Turin really show the image of the incarnation of God the Son? My special guest tonight is investigative journalist Robert Wilcox who's here to discuss his book called 'The Truth About The Shroud of Turin' that explains why this image is absolutely real.

The shroud of Turin is one of history’s most controversial and perplexing relics. Many believe it to be the genuine burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Some hypothesize the image on the shroud was created through a rare scientific phenomenon. Still others think the shroud is a fake, proven—through carbon tests in 1988—to be a clever forgery. In The Truth About the Shroud of Turin , investigative reporter Robert K. Wilcox applies his investigative eye and compelling writing style to this mysterious artifact. Featuring new evidence, The Truth About the Shroud of Turin offers new insight into this baffling mystery and offers compelling evidence that the shroud is the authentic burial shroud of Jesus Christ.

Here's the Wikipedia entry that Robert Wilcox says is an outright lie. Read for yourself:

The Shroud of Turin (Italian: Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud[2][3] (Italian: Sacra Sindone[ˈsaːkra ˈsindone] or Santa Sindone), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and believe the fabric is the burial shroud in which he was wrapped after crucifixion. The image on the shroud is much clearer in a black and white photographic negative—first observed in 1898 by photographer Secondo Pia—than in its natural sepia color.

First mentioned in 1354, the shroud was denounced in 1389 by the local bishop of Troyes as a fake. Currently the Catholic Church neither formally endorses nor rejects the shroud, and in 2013 Pope Francisreferred to it as an "icon of a man scourged and crucified".[4] The shroud has been kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Turin, in northern Italy, since 1578.[2]

In 1988, radiocarbon dating by three different laboratories established that the shroud material was from the Middle Ages, between the years 1260 and 1390.[5] This test has sparked a debate of its own, with some scholars questioning the test result on the basis that the sample tested may have been contaminated or may have been taken from a strip of the shroud that was added later. All of these fringe hypotheses have been scientifically refuted, by carbon-dating experts and others using actual evidence from the shroud itself,[6]including the medieval repair hypothesis,[7][8][9] the bio-contamination hypothesis[10] and the carbon monoxide hypothesis.[11][12] The dating of the shroud nonetheless continues to be questioned by some people.[13]

A variety of methods have been proposed for the formation of the image, but the actual method used has not yet been conclusively identified.[14] The shroud continues to be intensely studied, and remains a controversial issue among some scientists and biblical scholars.[15][16][17][18]

The shroud is rectangular, measuring approximately 4.4 by 1.1 metres (14 ft 5 in × 3 ft 7 in). The cloth is woven in a three-to-one herringbone twill composed of flax fibrils. Its most distinctive characteristic is the faint, brownish image of a front and back view of a naked man with his hands folded across his groin. The two views are aligned along the midplane of the body and point in opposite directions. The front and back views of the head nearly meet at the middle of the cloth.[19]

The image in faint straw-yellow colour on the crown of the cloth fibres appears to be of a man with a beard, moustache, and shoulder-length hair parted in the middle. He is muscular and tall (various experts have measured him as from 1.70 to 1.88 m or 5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 2 in).[20] Reddish-brown stains are found on the cloth, correlating, according to proponents, with the wounds in the Biblical description of the crucifixion of Jesus.[21]

In May 1898 Italian photographer Secondo Pia was allowed to photograph the shroud. He took the first photograph of the shroud on 28 May 1898. In 1931, another photographer, Giuseppe Enrie, photographed the shroud and obtained results similar to Pia's.[22] In 1978, ultraviolet photographs were taken of the shroud.[23][24]

The shroud was damaged in a fire in 1532 in the chapel in Chambery, France. There are some burn holes and scorched areas down both sides of the linen, caused by contact with molten silver during the fire that burned through it in places while it was folded.[25] Fourteen large triangular patches and eight smaller ones were sewn onto the cloth by Poor Clarenuns to repair the damage.

There are no definite historical records concerning the particular shroud currently at Turin Cathedral prior to the 14th century. A burial cloth, which some historians maintain was the Shroud, was owned by the Byzantine emperors but disappeared during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204.[26] Although there are numerous reports of Jesus's burial shroud, or an image of his head, of unknown origin, being venerated in various locations before the 14th century, there is no historical evidence that these refer to the shroud currently at Turin Cathedral.[27]

The pilgrim medallion of Lirey (before 1453)

Historical records seem to indicate that a shroud bearing the image of a crucified man appeared in the small town of Lirey, in north-central France, around the years 1353 to 1357.[28] It was owned by a French knight, Geoffroi de Charny, who died at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.[15] In 1390 the Bishop of Troyes, Pierre d'Arcis, who had jurisdiction over the church in Lirey, wrote a lengthy memorandum to Antipope Clement VII (recognized as Pope by the Church in France during the Western Schism), declaring that the shroud was a forgery and that a previous Bishop of Troyes, Henri de Poitiers, had identified the artist who had made it.[26][29]

The history of the shroud from the 15th century is well recorded. In 1453 Margaret de Charny deeded the Shroud to the House of Savoy. In 1532, the shroud suffered damage from a fire in a chapel of Chambéry, capital of the Savoy region, where it was stored. A drop of molten silver from the reliquary produced a symmetrically placed mark through the layers of the folded cloth. Poor Clare Nuns attempted to repair this damage with patches. In 1578 Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy ordered the cloth to be brought from Chambéry to Turin and it has remained at Turin ever since.[30]

Since the 17th century the shroud has been displayed in the chapel built for that purpose by Guarino Guarini.[31] Repairs were made to the shroud in 1694 by Sebastian Valfrè to improve the repairs of the Poor Clare nuns.[32] Further repairs were made in 1868 by Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy. The shroud remained the property of the House of Savoy until 1983, when it was given to the Holy See by Umberto II of Italy.[33]

The shroud was first photographed in 1898, during a public exhibition.

A fire, possibly caused by arson, threatened the shroud on 11 April 1997.[34] In 2002, the Holy See had the shroud restored. The cloth backing and thirty patches were removed, making it possible to photograph and scan the reverse side of the cloth, which had been hidden from view. A faint part-image of the body was found on the back of the shroud in 2004.

The Shroud was placed back on public display (the 18th time in its history) in Turin from 10 April to 23 May 2010; and according to Church officials, more than 2 million visitors came to see it.[35]

On Holy Saturday (30 March) 2013, images of the shroud were streamed on various websites as well as on television for the first time in 40 years.[36][37]Roberto Gottardo of the diocese of Turin stated that for the first time they had released high definition images of the shroud that can be used on tablet computers and can be magnified to show details not visible to the naked eye.[36] As this rare exposition took place, Pope Francis issued a carefully worded statement which urged the faithful to contemplate the shroud with awe but, like his predecessors, he "stopped firmly short of asserting its authenticity".[38][39]

The shroud was again placed on display in the cathedral in Turin from 19 April 2015 until 24 June 2015. There was no charge to view it, but an appointment was required.[4