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A Vatican researcher claims she found nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin that includes the words “Jesus Nazarene” and mention of a death sentence. Barabara Frale, who makes the claim in a new book, says the faint writing emerged through a computer analysis of photos of the shroud, which is not normally accessible for study. Frale believes the text – a jumble of Greek, Latin and Aramaic – was written on a document by a clerk to identify the body and that the ink had seeped into the cloth. Despite the historian’s claim, skeptics, not surprisingly, were quick...

Science by Press Release (Again). Another Editorial Response by Barrie Schwortz A permanent archive pdf file of this editorial can now be found at this link: Science by Press Release (Again) Once again we are being bombarded by media claims about the Shroud of Turin, although this time admittedly from a pro-authenticity position by researcher Barbara Frale. However, the same rules must be applied to these claims as those applied to the recent claims by anti-authenticity researcher Luigi Garlaschelli. Frale claims she has "discovered" inscriptions on the Shroud that prove it is authentic. However, she is basing her conclusions...

A Vatican scholar claims to have deciphered the "death certificate" imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, or Holy Shroud, a linen cloth revered by Christians and held by many to bear the image of the crucified Jesus. Dr Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican secret archives, said "I think I have managed to read the burial certificate of Jesus the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth." She said that she had reconstructed it from fragments of Greek, Hebrew and Latin writing imprinted on the cloth together with the image of the crucified man. The shroud, which is kept in the...

ROME – A Vatican researcher claims a nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin proves the authenticity of the artifact revered as Jesus' burial cloth. The claim made in a new book by historian Barbara Frale drew immediate skepticism from some scientists, who maintain the shroud is a medieval forgery. Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin and Aramaic scattered across the shroud. She asserts the words include the name "Jesus Nazarene" in Greek, proving the text could not be of medieval origin...

Recently, a new hypothesis about the origin of the image seen on the Turin Shroud has been presented by Prof. Luigi Garlaschelli1 during a press release. The results of the experiments based on this hypothesis were shown and the explanations and photographs are available on the author web site2. Starting from these data and some complementary explanations kindly furnished to me by Prof. Garlaschelli, it is now possible to begin to examine the plausibility of this hypothesis. The hypothesis of Prof. Luigi Garlaschelli (L.G. in the rest of the text) can be briefly but accurately summarized. A medieval artist originally...

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Shroud of Turin May 2, 2010, the Archbishop of Turin announced today.During his visit, the Holy Father will pray privately in front of the holy Shroud before celebrating Mass and reciting the Angelus with pilgrims in Turin’s main square. In the afternoon, the Pope will have a meeting with young people and call into the Little House of Divine Providence, a shelter for the poor, disabled and elderly.Cardinal Severino Poletto, the Archbishop of Turin, said the city “will welcome him with great enthusiasm and affection,” adding that for the local people his visit will...

Scientists shocked to find the image of President Barack Obama of the United States on the Shroud of Turin.

I was away from my office and in Los Angeles yesterday when the story broke in the media that an Italian professor had "reproduced" the Shroud using techniques that were available in the 14th century. Although I didn't have my computer with me, my mobile phone rang again and again with friends calling to read me the story, so I heard the news almost immediately. Upon my return late last night, my mailbox was flooded with e-mail, my answering machine was nearly full of messages and more than 20,000 people had visited the website since Tuesday morning. I finally was...

Barrie Schwortz 7 October 2009 EDITOR'S NOTE: I have been invited to appear on the Coast to Coast talk radio program with George Noory on Wednesday night, October 14, 2009, (early Thursday morning, October 15, 2009), where we will discuss this story in more detail. Check your local listings for the air time in your area. Also, watch for the next regular update to the website around the end of October.

Teacher Has Theory on the Shroud of TurinThursday March 24, 2005 1:46 PM By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press Writer SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Nathan Wilson is an English teacher with no scientific training, but he thinks he knows how Jesus' burial cloth was made and he thinks it's not a physical sign of the resurrection. In other words, in Wilson's estimation, the Shroud of Turin is a fake - produced with some glass, paint and old cloth. And that theory, especially with Easter this weekend, has so-called ``Shroudies'' a buzz. ``A lot of religious people are upset,'' said Wilson,...

Scientist re-creates Turin Shroud to show it's fake updated 3:41 p.m. EDT, Wed October 7, 2009 By Richard Allen Greene CNN (CNN) -- An Italian scientist says he has reproduced one of the world's most famous Catholic relics, the Shroud of Turin, to support his belief it is a medieval fake, not the cloth Jesus was buried in. Luigi Garlaschelli created a copy of the shroud by wrapping a specially woven cloth over one of his students, painting it with pigment, baking it in an oven (which he called a "shroud machine") for several hours, then washing it. His result...

Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin — revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb — and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection. Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said. The group said...

An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is a medieval fake. The shroud, measuring 14 feet, 4 inches by 3 feet, 7 inches bears the image, eerily reversed like a photographic negative, of a crucified man some believers say is Christ. "We have shown that is possible to reproduce something which has the same characteristics as the Shroud," Luigi Garlaschelli, who is due to illustrate the results at a conference on the para-normal this weekend in northern Italy,...

I am extremely pleased to announce that our new non-profit organization, the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association, Inc. (STERA, Inc.), has received final approval and 501(c)(3) non-profit status from the I.R.S. and has begun to function. As you may have noticed on the Home Page of the site, I have already begun the process of transferring the ownership of www.shroud.com to STERA, Inc., which will become the formal publisher and legal owner of this website in the very near future. I will remain as Editor of the site and become Executive Director of STERA, Inc. I have also...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI confirmed his intention to visit the Shroud of Turin when it goes on public display in Turin's cathedral April 10-May 23, 2010. Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin, papal custodian of the Shroud of Turin, visited the pope July 26 in Les Combes, Italy, where the pope was spending part of his vacation. The Alpine village is about 85 miles from Turin. The cardinal gave the pope the latest news concerning preparations for next year's public exposition of the shroud and the pope "confirmed his intention to go to Turin for the occasion," said...

Pope Benedict XVI confirmed his intention to visit the Shroud of Turin when it goes on public display in Turin's cathedral April 10-May 23, 2010. Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin, papal custodian of the Shroud of Turin, visited the pope July 26 in Les Combes, Italy, where the pope was spending part of his vacation. The Alpine village is about 85 miles from Turin. The cardinal gave the pope the latest news concerning preparations for next year's public exposition of the shroud and the pope "confirmed his intention to go to Turin for the occasion," said the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit...

To believers it is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, miraculously marked with his image. But the Turin shroud was widely dismissed as a hoax in 1988 when scientific tests found it could not be more than 1,000 years old. Now one of the scientists who first studied 12 foot-long sheet has spoken - from beyond the grave - of how he came to believe that it could be genuine. A video made shortly before Raymond Rogers died in 2005 has been discovered, in which the U.S. chemist reveals his own tests show the relic to be much older -...

New evidence suggests the Turin Shroud could have been the cloth in which Jesus was buried, as experiments that concluded it was a medieval fake were flawed. Radio carbon dating carried out in 1988 was performed on an area of the relic that was repaired in the 16th century, according to Ray Rogers, who helped lead the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STRP). At the time he argued firmly that the shroud, which bears a Christlike image, was a clever forgery. snip "Sue and Joe were right. The worst possible sample for carbon dating was taken. "It consisted of different...

Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said today in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic’s missing years. The Knights Templar, an order which was suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy, took care of the linen cloth, which bears the image of a man with a beard, long hair and the wounds of crucifixion, according to Vatican researchers. The Shroud, which is kept in the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral, has long been revered as the shroud in which Jesus was...

Benedict XVI’s announcement will allow millions of people to see the linen cloth that according to tradition was wrapped around the body of Jesus after his death, showing that “mysterious Face, which silently speaks to the hearts of men, inviting them to see in it the face of God.” Vatican City (AsiaNews) – For 40 days in the spring of 2010 it will be possible to see the Shroud of Turin which, according to tradition, is the cloth in which the body of Jesus was wrapped after his death and which shows the marks of the Passion and Crucifixion as...

As a child in Chicago in the early 1950s, I watched my first TV special about the Shroud of Turin---shown there on Easter Sunday. I was amazed by the mysterious linen cloth, when all we really knew was that it had the shocking image of a crucified man complete with what appeared to be blood stains and bruise marks, that the image seemed to be almost a photographic negative, and that the provenance of the Shroud was highly questionable. After all, a Bishop had written in 1389 that the Shroud was just a painting and that he knew the unnamed...

The Shroud of Turin is a controversial topic. There have been many documentaries aired on the shroud, but few if any have risen to the coherence and intellectual integrity of Unwrapping the Shroud:New Evidence which was aired on December 14, 2008 at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the Discovery Channel. It was re-aired on December 20th with some minor corrections. I've been personally interested in the shroud for many years, almost half a century, and in that time I've seen many shroud documentaries and have quite a few of them in the form of video cassettes and DVDs. Shroud...

The Shroud of Turin is one of the great enduring mysteries of all time, with its authenticity debated for years. Many believe it's the burial cloth of Jesus and the only physical link to Him, while others maintain that it is nothing more than an elaborate hoax. In fact, in 1988, a team of scientists radiocarbon dated the Shroud and concluded it was fake, dating back to the Middle Ages (1290-1360), long after Jesus was crucified. And that's where the story stood, unchallenged -- until now. Discovery Channel's one-hour original special UNWRAPPING THE SHROUD: NEW EVIDENCE attempts to unravel the...

INTRODUCTION: In 1978, a team of scientific researchers (STURP: Shroud of Turin Research Project) was allowed for the first time to carry out a scientific comprehensive study of the Turin Shroud. Visual examination, macro and microphotographies, X-Ray radiographies; IR, visible and UV reflectance spectroscopy and photographs and UV-Vis fluorescence studies were conducted in situ. 32 surface samples (5 cm2 each) were obtained from specific locations using inert, non-reactive pure hydrocarbon sticky tapes for later examination. The results of the studies were published in different peer-reviewed scientific journals in the following years. In 1981, STURP officially concluded that: «No pigments, paints,...

Abstract The Sudarium of Oviedo has been studied intensively with a petrographic (polarizing) microscope. It is composed of pure flax fibers, and they show the same characteristics as the Shroud of Turin. The technology used to prepare the linen cloth appears to be identical to that described for Roman times by Pliny the Elder (Natural History XIX, 3, 16-18). Flax fibers are mostly crystalline cellulose, and the crystals have a fibrillar structure. The fibers are birefringent between crossed polarizers; however, the birefringence changes depending on the past history of the material. Perfect, new flax fibers show extinction (the segments between...

I became involved with the analytical aspect of the Shroud when Ray Rogers asked me for help in conducting certain Shroud image formation studies. He needed an alpha-particle source to complete investigation of possible image formation processes and some radiochemical calculations on the depth of penetration of an emitted alpha-particle into flax fibers. I provided him with both and he asked further for X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) measurements on a special sample he termed a “spliced thread” or R1 sample. The XPS measurements were made and he was quite excited at the results because they indicated the two ends of...

PRESS RELEASE: Los Alamos National Laboratory team of scientists prove carbon 14 dating of the Shroud of Turin wrong COLUMBUS, Ohio, August 15 — In his presentation today at The Ohio State University’s Blackwell Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) chemist, Robert Villarreal, disclosed startling new findings proving that the sample of material used in 1988 to Carbon-14 (C-14) date the Shroud of Turin, which categorized the cloth as a medieval fake, could not have been from the original linen cloth because it was cotton. According to Villarreal, who lead the LANL team working on the project, thread samples they...

Turin shroud controversy envelops pair The tie that binds John and Rebecca Jackson is about 4 feet by 14 feet, woven of herringbone twill linen. It once led to their romance; years later, it dominates their thoughts and fills their conversations. By DeeDee Correll Los Angeles Times COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The tie that binds John and Rebecca Jackson is about 4 feet by 14 feet, woven of herringbone twill linen. It once led to their romance; years later, it dominates their thoughts and fills their conversations. It brought Rebecca, an Orthodox Jew, to the Roman Catholic Church; it led...

There exist today multiple arguments of a historical/archaeological nature which conclude that the Shroud of Turin is older than the medieval date ascribed to it by radiocarbon dating in 1988. This has led to the proposal of various hypotheses to explain this apparent discrepancy. One hypothesis is that the linen sample used in the radiocarbon dating actually came from a medieval “re-weave”. While this hypothesis has been argued on the basis of indirect chemistry, it can be discounted on the basis of evident bandings in the 1978 radiographs and transmitted light images of STURP. These data photographs show clearly that...

As you may have noticed, the Shroud has been in the news a great deal in the past few months. Although it is typically in the news during the Lenten season each year, this recent publicity is due mainly to the premiere of a new BBC documentary about the Shroud titled: Shroud of Turin - Material Evidence. The program, produced and directed by David Rolfe, the director of the the award-winning 1978 Shroud documentary, The Silent Witness, aired in the U.K. on BBC2 on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008. Since the film has not yet aired in North America, I...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — The Shroud of Turin is undoubtedly the most famous relic in Christendom — and the best loved. During those rare times when it is displayed, millions of pilgrims travel from all over the world to see the purported burial cloth of Jesus Christ, a piece of linen 3 feet 7 inches-by-14 feet 3 inches that bears the detailed front and back images of a man who was crucified in a manner identical to that of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the Scriptures. In 1978, more than 3.5 million people stood in line for up to...

INTRODUCTION: The Jospice mattress cover is a sienna colored, rectangular, three dimensional nylon cover and bears a striking image of the palm of a left hand accompanied by an image of the lower torso from the buttocks to below the knees, an image of the left arm, a fainter image of the upper part of the right arm, an image of the shoulders and an indistinct image corresponding to the lower part of the left face, all portrayed in a deeper shade of the mattress color. Father Francis O’Leary contacted me in June of 1986 offering me the opportunity to...

First, I would like to thank all of you who wrote or called me after seeing the program. I truly appreciate hearing your comments and your individual points of view. I am also sorry that it is simply impossible for me to respond to every e-mail I receive. When I was first asked to appear in a television documentary about the Shroud of Turin, sometime in 1996, I was very insecure about taking a public stand on the Shroud and wondered if I should do it at all. Somewhat ironically, since I am Jewish, I consulted with a Catholic priest...

RALEIGH, Nc., Sept. 13 - A new discovery reveals a "mystery" never before seen. Investigative researcher Philip E. Dayvault, of Raleigh, NC, found in 2003 that the famed Sistine Chapel Ceiling fresco, painted by Michelangelo in 1512 and located at the Vatican in Rome, Italy, is also painted in allegory. Although the central panels of the Ceiling, or "historicals", are illustrated for literal interpretation, they also contain unique symbolic expression. Once decoded, Dayvault discovered that this expression graphically depicts the Shroud of Turin, in full and complete order. The Shroud of Turin is the traditional burial cloth of Jesus Christ....

A. IntroductionThe Shroud of Turin is purported to be the literal burial shroud of Jesus Christ, and its authenticity has thus aroused intense debate and sometimes hostile rhetoric between those who believe that the Shroud is authentic (or at least believe that it is the actual burial shroud of a crucified man who may or may not have been Jesus), and those who do not. Many attempts have been made by skeptics to challenge its authenticity on various grounds, as well as to develop alternative theories to explain how the images on the Shroud could have been faked or generated...

First, I would like to thank all of you who wrote or called me after seeing the program. I truly appreciate hearing your comments and your individual points of view. I am also sorry that it is simply impossible for me to respond to every e-mail I receive. When I was first asked to appear in a television documentary about the Shroud of Turin, sometime in 1996, I was very insecure about taking a public stand on the Shroud and wondered if I should do it at all. Somewhat ironically, since I am Jewish, I consulted with a Catholic priest...

Welcome to the 11th Anniversary of the Shroud of Turin Website. I always wait and write the introduction to these updates last, since I am never quite sure just how much of my backlogged material I will actually be able to include. This update is certainly another example of that, as I have worked on it nonstop for the past two weeks, and it is now past 9:00 p.m. on the evening of January 20, 2007, as I write this. And once again, I have run out of time before running out of new materials to include. As many of...

Read the entire article at Possibly the Biggest Radiocarbon Dating Mistake Ever to see it formatted, with images, notes and cited works. I asked my teacher about it but was ridiculed for not being scientific.” -- High School Student from Alaska It may well go down as the biggest radiocarbon dating mistake in history; not because there is anything wrong with the measurement process (there may not have been); not because there is anything inherently wrong with carbon 14 dating (there is not); not because of shoddy sample taking (which indeed was shoddy); not because of red flags that should...

Author: Shroud of Turin wrongly condemnedBelieves dating scientifically flawed, linen could be burial cloth of Jesus A new book says the controversial Shroud of Turin – said to bear the image of the crucified Jesus Christ – has been wrongly condemned as a fraud and desecrated due to serious errors in its study and conservation. "The Rape of the Turin Shroud – how Christianity's most precious relic was wrongly condemned, and violated," by William Meacham, contends the shroud was dismissed as a medieval fake by the general public after poorly planned Carbon-14 dating in 1988. The linen also suffered major...

Shroud of Turin and the Resurrection of Jesus : Voice from the Past  The Hymn of the Pearl Deep within the Hymn of the Pearl, itself deep within the Acts of Thomas, some very interesting lines of poetry are found. These words are translated, and understood, many ways. This is but one interpretation, one reflection, one point of view interpolated from different translations and analyses:   TWO IMAGE - Within the Hymn of the Pearl - Suddenly, I saw my image on my [burial a] garment like in a mirror Myself and myself through myself [or myself facing outward...

Cloning may help terrible prophecies come true Researchers say they would like to clone Christ. But with this good intention they on the contrary may get an antichrist. Famous chemist Alan Adler who studied samples of the shroud of Turin, the legendary burial cloth into which Jesus Christ was wrapped after crucifixion, made a sensational statement not long ago. The researcher said there was blood on the shroud and it was shed by a man who died a violent death. The University of Texas Center for Advanced DNA Technologies, USA, analyzed the DNA of the bloodstains. Head of the Center...

Chinese map collecter has found a copy of an ancient map he claims proves controversial theories that famed Chinese mariner Zheng He was the first person to discover America and circumnavigate the world. Liu Gang said the map supports the recent theories that Chinese discovered America before Christopher Columbus and charted parts of the world such as Antartica and northern Canada long before Western explorers. "The map shows us that Chinese discovered the world 70 years before Columbus," Liu said in a public unveiling of the chart. "The map tells us that Zheng He discovered the world." The map is...

The Shroud of Turin for Journalists PDF Version (Best for Printing & Page Reading) Where Have All the Skeptics Gone? By Daniel R. Porter   (Updated October 28, 2005)  One might think the Papal custodians of the Shroud of Turin would be pleased. The primary skeptical argument, carbon 14 dating, had been eliminated. The shroud might be 2000 years old, after all.  But like Hydra, the Greek mythological beast, controversy grew a weird new head. With the Winter Olympics coming to Turin in February, 2006, bringing a million spectators and thousands of journalists, articles that describe this magnificent Italian city...

While periodic claims continue to surface purporting to debunk the Shroud of Turin as a hoax — including one made earlier this year by an Idaho academic — one local scientist has no doubt that the cloth covered the crucified Christ and has survived intact for nearly two millennia. Deseret Morning News graphic DNA testing of blood found on the fibers of the Shroud of Turin has been inconclusive.       Eugenia Nitowski, an archaeologist and former nun, bases her conclusion as much on science as on faith: The shroud's existence has forced science to seriously debate the Resurrection...

p>World-renowned Los Angeles liturgical artist Isabel Piczek earned accolades for "opening new doors of research" at the Dallas International Shroud of Turin Conference held at the Adolphus Hotel Sept. 8-11. The landmark event drew 160 scientists, artists and physicians from around the world sharing the latest research on the shroud, believed by many to portray a full-length image of the crucified Christ. Using a statue she created as a visual aid measuring one-third the actual size of the man depicted on the shroud, Piczek presented her explanation of the image's "Concealed Bas-Relief Effect." She theorizes the image of the shroud...

NEW YORK, NY., Sept. 20, 2005 -- According to a report published today on the Shroud Story website (http://www.shroudstory.com), a recent conference on the Shroud of Turin erupted in controversy over how the Papal Custodians of the Shroud were dealing with scientific evidence. The report is entitled, "An Enchilada Comes to Mind." The conference, held from September 8 to 11, in the grand ballroom of the historic Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, Texas, was attended by about 100 archeologists, scientists and historians from around the world. According to Daniel Porter, author of the report, conference organizers had wanted a positive discussion...

Paris - A French magazine said on Tuesday it had carried out experiments that proved the Shroud of Turin, believed by some Christians to be their religion's holiest relic, was a fake. "A mediaeval technique helped us to make a Shroud," Science & Vie (Science and Life) said in its July issue. The Shroud is claimed by its defenders to be the cloth in which the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped after his crucifixion. It bears the faint image of a blood-covered man with holes in his hand and wounds in his body and head, the apparent result of...

A FRENCH magazine has said it had carried out experiments that proved the Shroud of Turin, believed by some Christians to be their religion's holiest relic, was a fraud. "A mediaeval technique helped us to make a Shroud," Science & Vie (Science and Life) said in its July issue. The Shroud is claimed by its defenders to be the cloth in which the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped after his crucifixion. It bears the faint image of a blood-covered man with holes in his hand and wounds in his body and head, the apparent result of being crucified, stabbed...

The shroud of turin was widely dismissed as a medieval forgery after radiocarbon tests in 1988 dated it to the 13th or 14th century. Now a growing body of evidence is calling for reassessment of the shroud, which is kept in Turin, Italy. The latest item comes from the London-based Journal of Optics, published by the Institute of Physics. Two scientists from the University of Padua, Giulio Fanti and Roberto Maggiolo, report in the journal's April edition the discovery of a heretofore-undetected reverse image on the shroud. They say the smaller, fainter image on the back of the cloth depicts...

SPOKANE, Washington — Nathan Wilson is an English teacher with no scientific training, but he thinks he knows how Jesus' (search) burial cloth was made and he thinks it's not a physical sign of the resurrection. In other words, in Wilson's estimation, the Shroud of Turin (search) is a fake — produced with some glass, paint and old cloth. And that theory, especially with Easter this weekend, has so-called "Shroudies" a buzz. "A lot of religious people are upset," said Wilson, 26, who teaches at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. Wilson is himself an evangelical Christian (search) but...