The Pope and the Shroud--A Long History
By Francis DeStefano
In 1933 Pope Pius XI, after making a personal inquiry into the Shroud of Turin - determined for himself
that it was authentic. In that year, he asked the Italian Savoy family, the ruling family of Italy, and the
owners and custodians of the Shroud - to exhibit the Shroud to commemorate the Holy Year.
Pope Pius XI was close friends with early Shroud researchers. One of them was Secondo Pia, an Italian
politician and amateur photographer who was the first to photograph the Shroud back in 1898. You can
still see the large camera that he used in a museum in Turin dedicated to the Shroud.
It was he who discovered that the image of the Shroud - is a photographic negative. This discovery so
electrified him that he nearly dropped the photographic plates he was working on.
Pope Pius XI was also a close friend of professional Italian photographer, Giuseppe Enrie, who
photographed the Shroud in 1931 - proving beyond a doubt that the original Shroud is a photographic
negative. Many had vilified Secondo Pia, claiming he had doctored his plates.
Pope Pius XI was also close friends with another great early Shroud researcher, Frenchman, Paul Vignon.
It was during that exhibit in 1933 that Peter Rinaldi, an altar boy, saw the Shroud, and because he was
fluent in several languages - was asked to help people learn more about the Shroud during that exhibit.
He went on to become one of the foremost authorities on the Shroud of Turin in the world.
Seeing the Shroud resolved him to become a Salesian priest. The Salesians were founded by St. John
Bosco who also grew up in Turin. St. John Bosco saw the Shroud when it was exhibited in 1827 and
became a life-long researcher. He saw it again in 1863, this time with his followers. After his death, Pope
Pius XI canonized John Bosco.
The Salesians received their name from St. Francis DeSales, an heroic saint who brought thousands of
Calvinists back to the Catholic Church. It turns out that one of his favorite devotions - was venerating the
Shroud of Turin.
Father Rinaldi SDB (Salesians of John Bosco) was sent to Portchester, New York, where he served as
pastor of Corpus Christi parish for twenty-nine years. It was he who built the first shrine to the Shroud of
Turin in the United States back in 1970.
There is now a stained glass window there that shows him viewing the Shroud. It was crafted and installed
not by Father Rinaldi's request - but by the artist who was inspired to do so.
Were it not for this one priest - who saw the Shroud because of Pope Pius XI - we would still know next to
nothing about the Shroud of Turin.
It was because of Father Peter Rinaldi and ultimately because of Pope Pius XI - that the Shroud has become
the most researched artifact in the world. It was Father Peter Rinaldi’s diplomatic skills and connections
that persuaded the custodians of the Shroud to grant access to American scientists in 1978 in what became
the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP).
The Shroud in recent centuries was exhibited rarely: in 1827, 1863, 1898, 1931 (for a marriage between
King Umberto II and his wife), 1933 (when Father Rinaldi saw it), 1978 (when Pope John Paul II saw it),
1998, 2000, and again in 2010.
Perhaps the most significant exhibition of the Shroud was during 1978. It was exhibited that year to
commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Shroud's arrival in Turin - after being brought there in 1578 so
that the aged St. Charles Borromeo, the Archbishop of Milan, could venerate it without having to cross the
French Alps, a rugged journey in the 1500’s.
About 4 million saw the Shroud during the 1978 exhibition. It was immediately after this exhibit ended
that the Shroud of Turin Research Project scientists (STURP) - spent 120 hours studying the Shroud
firsthand.
It was the largest and most amazing faith/science collaboration that has ever occurred in history. Some of
the best scientists in the world at that time were involved in this research - research that the future Pope
John Paul II would continue to encourage.
It was during the 1978 exhibition that the future Pope John Paul II saw the Shroud as a cardinal. Over 300
bishops also saw it during that exhibition, one of them being the saintly Cardinal Terence Cooke of New
York - who was so moved by it - that he wanted the original Shroud brought to St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Cardinal Cooke was a close friend with Father Peter Rinaldi. His successor, Cardinal O'Connor - was also
very interested in the Shroud, and he encouraged the work of the Holy Shroud Guild.
Pope Paul VI, who reigned as Pope from 1963 to 1978, was also interested in the Shroud as attested to in
documents kept in Port Chester.
Pope John Paul II became the personal owner of the Shroud in 1985, after King Umberto II, the last king of
Italy, died in exile in 1983. The shroud passed through the Italian court system for two years, when finally
the king's will was probated and the Shroud went to the living Pope, on condition that it remain in Turin.
Many people believe that the Shroud belongs to the Vatican, which is not true. It is actually the personal
possession of the living pope.
During the late 1990's, the custodians of the Shroud in Turin approached Pope John Paul II, and asked him
when they should exhibit the Shroud again. They presented him with two options: either in 1998, to
commemorate the 100 years that the Shroud was first photographed, or during the year 2000, to
commemorate the Third Millennium. At that, Pope John Paul II - asked for the Shroud to be exhibited
during BOTH dates, which it was.
Our current Pope Benedict XVI will also be going to Turin to venerate the Shroud on May 2 nd, 2010. It was
his decision to advance the date of the exhibition from 2025 to 2010. This decision is a strong statement of
how the current Pope must feel about the Shroud.
Pope Pius XII reigned from 1939 to 1958. Somewhere in that time, a group of experts was able to instruct
and advise him. Next to the crucifix modeled after the Shroud in the shrine in Port Chester is a plaque in
which the following was stated: After listening to Shroud experts describe the horrors of Crucifixion, Pope
Pius XII said, 'We know that Jesus suffered as no man ever did, but we never imagined such things!'
Pope Pius XI, Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and now Pope Benedict XVI all venerated the
Shroud, and all approved of continued research and exhibitions. There is an unbroken chain of papal
approval of the Shroud from Pius XI to Pope Benedict XVI.
A precious treasure, the Holy Shroud, which displays both to move and comfort us, the image of the lifeless
body and tortured face of Christ. - Pope Pius XII
Upon seeing the Shroud, Pope John XXIII declared, The finger of God is here!