Pope visits Shroud of Turin

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI visited and prayed before the Shroud of Turin in northern Italy on Sunday.
The linen cloth, which recently went on display for the first time in 10 years, shows the image of a crucified man who some believe is Christ's burial cloth and others dismiss as a fake.

The Vatican has never declared the shroud authentic. But in a meditation inside Turin Cathedral, Benedict said the cloth wrapped the remains of a crucified man, "an icon written in blood, the blood of a man who was whipped, crowned with thorns, crucified and injured on his right side."

The pope said the relic should be seen as a photographic document of the "darkest mystery of faith." the rest