For centuries, Catholics have flocked to the Italian city of Turin to be in the presence of its famous shroud.
The venerated piece of linen, measuring 14ft 5in by 3ft 7in, bears a faint image of the front and back of a man – interpreted by many as Jesus Christ.
Believers say it was used to wrap the body of Christ after his crucifixion, leaving his bloody imprint, like a photographic snapshot.
Despite repeated ‘hoax’ claims, a scientist is now convinced that the object really did wrap Jesus – and says there’s an ‘enormous quantity of evidence’ to prove it.
Professor Liberato De Caro, a committed Catholic and a deacon in his local church, rubbished claims that it was produced in medieval times with his recent study.
Professor De Caro told The Telegraph: ‘If I had to be a judge in a trial, weighing up all the evidence that says the shroud is authentic and the little evidence that says it is not, in all good conscience I could not declare that the Shroud of Turin is medieval.
‘It would not be right, given the enormous quantity of evidence in favour of it.’
Professor De Caro’s recent x-ray study that found the Shroud of Turin does indeed date back 2,000 years – to around the time Christ lived and died.
The Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) in the 1970s and 1980s revealed that the holy fabric was indeed stained with blood.
The STURP found that the stains have traces of hemoglobin – the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen.
The stains also gave a positive test for serum albumin, the most abundant protein in human blood plasma.
In 1981, in its final report, the STURP team wrote: ‘We can conclude for now that the Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man.
‘It is not the product of an artist.’
