Vatican City, Apr 11, 2019 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis Thursday told the formerly warring leaders of South Sudan that peace is possible in their fledgling country through the power of Christ’s resurrection.
“Your people today are yearn… […]
Denver, Colo., Apr 11, 2019 / 11:45 am (CNA).- A new website aims to make available to Catholics and researchers a collection of photographs of the Shroud of Turin by a scientific photographer who was part of a research project that spent more than one hundred hours conducting tests on the shroud.
The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth 14 feet 5 inches long by 3 feet 7 inches wide, which shows the image of a man tortured and crucified. It is held by many Catholics to be the burial cloth that wrapped the body of Jesus after his death on the cross.
From 1977 to 1981, a team of physicists, chemists, pathologists, and engineers from universities and U.S. government laboratories conducted the Shroud of Turin Research Project, which concluded that “the shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an artist. The blood stains are composed of hemoglobin and also give a positive test for serum albumin. The image is an ongoing mystery and until further chemical studies are made, perhaps by this group of scientists, or perhaps by some scientists in the future, the problem remains unsolved.”
The project’s final report added that “no pigments, paints, dyes or stains” were found on the shroud’s fibers, adding that “it is clear that there has been a direct contact of the Shroud with a body, which explains certain features such as scourge marks, as well as the blood. However, while this type of contact might explain some of the features of the torso, it is totally incapable of explaining the image of the face with the high resolution that has been amply demonstrated by photography.”
“The scientific consensus is that the image was produced by something which resulted in oxidation, dehydration and conjugation of the polysaccharide structure of the microfibrils of the linen itself. Such changes can be duplicated in the laboratory by certain chemical and physical processes. A similar type of change in linen can be obtained by sulfuric acid or heat. However, there are no chemical or physical methods known which can account for the totality of the image, nor can any combination of physical, chemical, biological or medical circumstances explain the image adequately.”
Vernon Miller was the official scientific photographer of the Shroud of Turin Research project. His photographs, and magnified micrographs of various aspects of the shroud, are now freely available to view or download at shroudphotos.com. Photographs taken under ultraviolet light are also available for download. Organizers of the site say that it was Miller’s wish that his photograph’s be digitized and made available to those who have never seen them. The site is the first place to publish a digitized and organized catalog of Miller’s work.
Miller recognized the power of images of the shroud.
“Worldwide interest in the Shroud of Turin was stimulated by the first photographs of it in 1898 when photography was in its infancy. Up to that time, people who looked at the cloth found it faint. It took the camera, with its negative image [of the man], to appreciate it,” he said after the research project was completed.
The shroud has been in Turin, Italy since 1578, has been the subject of thousands of scientific investigations from diverse specialties, and more than 32,000 photographs have been taken of it. The Church’s official position on the shroud is one of neutrality.
Vatican City, Apr 11, 2019 / 06:40 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Thursday that human trafficking is, “without doubt,” a crime against humanity for its violation of human dignity and freedom.
Trafficking, he said April 11, “constitutes… […]
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2019 / 09:49 am (CNA).- As Pope Francis’ council of cardinals wraps up the drafting of a new apostolic constitution, they have decided to take up the topic of management roles for women working in the Vatican.
Vatican spoke… […]
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2019 / 03:49 am (CNA).- Pope Francis warned Wednesday that pride is the most dangerous attitude in the Christian life, pointing out that even the holiest of people have received everything from God.
“None of us loves God as He loved us. It is enough to put oneself before a crucifix to grasp the disproportion,” Pope Francis said April 10.
“Before God we are all sinners,” Francis said. “If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,” he said quoting the first epistle of John.
The pope said that pride is “the most dangerous attitude of every Christian life,” warning that arrogance can “also infect people who live an intense religious life.”
“There are glaring sins that make noise, and there are also devious sins, which lurk in the heart without us even realizing it. The worst of these is pride,” Francis said.
The sin of pride divides people and makes us presume to be better than others, he explained. “We always remain children who owe everything to the Father.”
Pope Francis said that when we go through difficult days, we must always remember that life is a miracle that God has created from nothing.
“In this life we have received so much: existence, a father and a mother, friendship, the wonders of creation,” he said.
“If you love, it is because someone next to you has awakened you to love, making you understand how in it lies the meaning of existence,” he explained.
Pope Francis called this principle the “mystery of the moon,” which has no light of its own, but reflects the light of the sun.
“We love because we have been loved, we forgive because we have been forgiven,” he said. “None of us shines with our own light.”
The pope said that understanding this can give us a greater empathy for others.
“Let’s try to listen to the story of some person who made a mistake: a prisoner, a convict, a drug addict,” Francis said. Without neglecting to consider personal responsibility, he said, you can ask yourself whether these mistakes are the result of a “story of hatred and abandonment that someone carries with him.”
Pope Francis reflected on a line, “Forgive us our trespasses” as a part of his ongoing catechesis on the “Our Father” prayer.
“Lord, even the holiest among us does not cease to be your debtor. O Father, have pity on us all,” Pope Francis prayed.
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- The Vatican updated Tuesday the complementary norms of the constitution governing personal ordinariates, a structure by which Anglicans may enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.
The complement… […]
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2019 / 12:59 pm (CNA).- The leaders of the newest country in the world will meet this week in the smallest country in the world.
Vatican City will host the leaders of war-torn South Sudan for a spiritual retreat April 10-11, with … […]
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2019 / 08:21 am (CNA).- Thirty-five years ago today, William A. Wilson presented his credentials to Pope John Paul II, becoming America’s first ambassador to the Holy See. This historic moment marked the start of formal diplo… […]
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2019 / 10:38 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Monday recognized the heroic virtue of nine-year old Brazilian boy, who “never complained” during cancer treatments, but instead offered his suffering to Jesus.
Diagnosed in 1… […]
Vatican City, Apr 7, 2019 / 05:52 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Sunday emphasized the need for people to have a firm resolve to change their lives when they ask for forgiveness of their sins.
“Every true conversion is aimed at a new future, at a new l… […]
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