Beyond the mystery: Shroud of Turin exhibit invites Filipinos to draw closer to Christ

Fifty years after the Shroud of Turin was first exhibited in the Philippines, a full-size replica has returned to Manila, inviting Filipinos to examine one of Christianity’s most studied and debated artifacts while reflecting on the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The exhibit, titled “Who do you say I am?”, runs from October 3 to 16 at the Blessed Souls and St. Jude chapels of the Manila Cathedral.

It is presented by the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Lieutenancy of the Philippines, together with the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Face of Jesus.

The exhibit features a consecrated full-size replica of the shroud, along with relics associated with the Passion of Christ.

For Reverend Father Joseph Spence, Professor of Shroud Studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy, the exhibit offers a chance to renew awareness of the shroud among Filipinos.

“It’s kind of a full circle that closes. As I was saying, my future founders came here with Monsignor Giulio Ricci. They founded the Roman Center of Studies on the Shroud in 1976,” Spence said.

“That very same year, they started going worldwide, bringing the shroud and the message of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus to the whole world. So the significance today, I would say, would be to try to revive the awareness of the Filipino people of the shroud as an archaeological object, but what it points to, which is of course Jesus of Nazareth and everything he lived and and did for us with his death and resurrection,” he added.

The Shroud of Turin is a centuries-old linen cloth bearing the faint image of a crucified man. Millions believe it to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth, while others regard it as a medieval creation.

Despite extensive scientific study, the controversy over its authenticity continues.

Spence stressed that the Catholic Church itself does not officially declare the Shroud authentic.

“The Church has always, especially in the recent decades, has always remained, as it were… They say in Italy, like, above super partes. So, above the parts. So, that is objective and neutral,” he said.

“So the Church encourages faithful to come and venerate the Shroud as an image of Jesus. But John Paul II, in his speech in front of the Shroud in 1998 in Turin, said that the Church will never be able to pronounce itself officially on the authenticity of the Shroud or not because the Shroud is an archaeological object,” he added.

According to Spence, questions surrounding the cloth’s authenticity belong to science and archaeology, while the Church’s authority concerns faith and morals.

For him, the more important question is what visitors take away from the exhibit.

“It’s pretty close to being authentic, but that’s a personal, let’s say, conclusion that everyone has to draw after their studies and observations. So, regarding what I think they can take away, I hope that all of the people, especially the youth who see the shroud, can be brought closer to Jesus and His sufferings for us, and realize not only how much He suffered, but why He suffered,” he said.

The exhibit also includes relics associated with the Passion of Christ, including a claimed fragment of the True Cross, a piece of a nail kept in Rome that could have been among the original nails used in the crucifixion, and a copy of the Titulus Crucis, or the inscription traditionally associated with Jesus’ cross.

Spence described relics as a tangible connection between the faithful and events they represent.

He said the objects are meant to encourage a deeper personal reflection rather than simply an examination of historical artifacts.

The full-size replica also allows visitors to closely examine the Shroud without traveling to Turin, where the original is preserved under controlled conditions because of its fragility.

During a walkthrough of the exhibit, Spence pointed to the faint frontal and dorsal images of the man, including the face, arms, legs, and feet. He also highlighted what Shroud scholars interpret as signs of crucifixion and physical trauma.

“If one is to consider the shroud authentic, that is the burial cloth of Jesus. So here we have on the head the signs of the crown of thorns. Some scholars have counted up to 50 wounds on the scalp and on the back, the nape of the neck of Jesus,” he said.

Then we have the two famous V-shaped spurts of blood coming from arteries. We have here the face which is swollen. So, Monsignor Ricci, a shroud expert, talks about the three falls on the way of the cross,” he added.

He also pointed to marks interpreted as evidence of scourging.

“We have here many wounds from the scourging at the pillar, especially on the back. We can see the most devastating area of the scourging. Shroud scholars have counted up to 372 individual wounds from the scourging at the pillar,” Spence said.

For Spence, the exhibit’s lasting value may lie in introducing the Shroud to Filipinos who have never encountered it.

During his visit, he said he met youth groups in the Philippines whose members had never heard of the artifact.

Ultimately, Spence hopes the shroud will lead visitors beyond curiosity about an ancient cloth and toward a deeper reflection on Christ.