THE New Catholic Encyclopedia is an eminent reference resource of many volumes, held in major Catholic and public libraries.
Published for the Catholic University of America Press, it is well recognised for its authority, but its three-page entry relating to the Shroud of Turin is misleading in a number of ways.
In reference to the encyclopedia’s statement that “Church authorities have been generally reserved, or even quite negative about the shroud’s authenticity”, this is misleading and I can cite at least nine Popes who have proclaimed their conviction that the Shroud of Turin is the authentic burial shroud of Jesus.
Pope Sixtus IV declared in the late 1470s, before he became Pope, that it was the shroud, “in which the body of Christ was wrapped when He was taken down from the cross”.
After becoming Pope, he said, “It is coloured with the blood of Christ”.
In 1506 the so-called “Warrior Pope”, Julius II, instituted an annual feast day of May 4 for the shroud, which, in the liturgy for that day is contained the words: “Almighty eternal God, You have left us the Holy Shroud on which his image is imprinted”.
In the 1700s Pope Benedict XIV said, “The Holy Shroud is that same shroud in which the Lord Jesus was wrapped”.
In the late 1800s Pope Leo XIII expressed his thanks to the people who had come to “venerate the sacred shroud of Christ”.
In 1931 Pope Pius XI said, “We have made a personal study of the shroud and we are convinced of its authenticity”.
In 1953 Pope Pius XII spoke of, “beholding (the shroud) with deep emotion and solace the image of the lifeless Body, and the broken and divine countenance of Jesus”.
In 1973 Pope Paul VI remarked: “Looking at this image (on the shroud), His mysterious charm will grow in all of us, whether or not we are believers”.
Pope John Paul II said, “It is very important to maintain the apostolate through the shroud, because the Lord left it to us, close to the sacraments.”
Finally, Pope Benedict XVI, prior to his elevation from cardinal, spoke of the impression on his heart made by the Holy Shroud.
“Let us dwell on this image of pain, in the presence of the Son of God suffering.”
While these are personal expressions by popes who have viewed the shroud, they clearly negate the encyclopedia’s “quite negative” reference about the shroud’s authenticity.
The entry questions, “whether these (bloodstains on the cloth) were produced by actual human blood or even blood at all”.
I relate in my book, The Shroud Story, that scientists have proven these stains to be human blood, Type AB, the type most common among Jews from northern Palestine.
Another entry that’s challenged is that, “the preponderance of evidence would seem to suggest a medieval date for the origin of this object”.
Such a statement was supportable after the 1988 test results of the radiocarbon dating of a tiny sample of cloth that was cut from a corner of the shroud (with papal consent) and found to be of medieval age.
However, these results were finally discredited in 2005 by the eminent chemist, the late Raymond Rogers, from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, whose peer reviewed paper related his extensive chemical analyses which proved that that the carbon dating results were “anomalous”, and that the shroud “is actually much older”.
(His results are documented in The Shroud Story.)
Also challenged is the encyclopedia’s summary statement: “It is most unlikely that this object is the authentic burial shroud of Jesus”.
This and the bulk of the entry about the shroud demonstrates unawareness of recent scientific studies of the cloth and its image of a crucified man.
Believing the entry on the shroud is out of date, I wrote to the encyclopedia’s publisher respectfully requesting that, when a revised edition is planned, that the entry be revised and the present misleading material be deleted.
This resulted in a reply from the executive editor for the New Catholic Encyclopedia requesting a copy of my book The Shroud Story and indicating that serious attention will be given to revising their article on the shroud for the next yearly update in electronic form, which will be followed at a later time in print form.
The accumulated evidence linking the shroud with Jesus is now almost overwhelming and this evidence is still allied to faith, not proof.
Such is the case for the Divinity of Jesus … a case of faith.
Brendan Whiting is the author of The Shroud Story, which is available from The Catholic Leader for $64.95 (including postage and handling).
