- The argument over the authenticity of
the Turin Shroud has taken a new twist after researchers say they may have
found fresh evidence that the cloth bears the face of Christ.
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- A team carrying out work in some of Rome's
ancient catacombs have discovered a ceiling fresco which they believe shows
the same man as the image on the holy relic.
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- They believe that the portrait dates
from as early as 60AD, indicating it may have been painted by someone who
had actually seen Christ while he lived.
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- Rex Morgan, an author on books on the
Shroud, said he believed there was sufficient evidence to date the portrait
to the first century.
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- "This painting looked to me to be
very much the same features of the man on the Shroud of Turin," said
Mr Morgan.
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- "All the earliest portraits are
all Romanesque figures, beardless and youthful, whereas this one is very
clearly a ... Jew with long black hair and a beard and other features you
would associate with the traditional likeness of Christ."
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- "If we are right and it was painted
in, let's say, about 60AD, it could very well or would almost certainly
have been painted by an eye-witness, someone who had actually seen the
man."
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- Mr Morgan suggested that St Mark may
have commissioned the portrait but he added that it could not conclusively
prove the image on the shroud is that of Christ.
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- "What it does, is adds another link
into the very many pieces of evidence which suggests that the Shroud of
Turin is a 2,000 year old item.
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- "You are never going to prove it's
the shroud of Christ, but it's another link in this extraordinarily mysterious
chain of evidence."
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- Debate rages on authenticity
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- Scientific tests have cast doubt on the
age of the Turin Shroud, indicating it might date from the Middle Ages.
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- But other evidence suggests it is not
a painting and the image could have been left by a corpse.
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- More intriguing still, computer analysis
indicates the shroud has unusual three-dimensional properties and scientists
have also found traces of pollens from the Middle East.
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- The shroud recently went back on view
at Turin Cathedral and thousands made a pilgrimage to the city to see the
relic.
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- Speaking during his visit, Pope John
Paul II called on scientists to keep an open mind about the shroud.
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