Why is the Vatican so afraid of having the Turin shroud authencated? Will it prove they have lied?

Question

The first proposal to date the Shroud was submitted in 1979 by Gove and Harbottle (published in Sox 1981:161-167). It was, in my opinion, seriously flawed by the lack of consultation with archaeologists and experts from other fields. Although the more recent STURP proposal has not yet been published, there is reason (discussed below) to suspect that it likewise has not been researched to the degree warranted by the object to be dated, and that significant input from a range of scholars is lacking. Because the next round of scientific testing of the Shroud may well be the last of this century, it is imperative that such details as the amount and number of samples and especially the sampling sites be very carefully considered. Possibilities of contamination should be exhaustively investigated, and pretreatment should be devised accordingly.

Answer 1

It's already been dated to be from the middle ages. It's certainly a fraud.

Not that that matters to any church or believer - they believe because they believe, not because it makes any sense.

Answer 2

I thought it was proven to be a hoax years ago! People still believe it? Wow!

The shroud of Turin is a woven cloth about 14 feet long and 3.5 feet wide with an image of a man on it. Actually, it has two images, one frontal and one rear, with the heads meeting in the middle. It has been noted that if the shroud were really wrapped over a body there should be a space where the two heads meet. And the head is 5% too large for its body, the nose is disproportionate, and the arms are too long. Nevertheless, the image is believed by many to be a negative image of the crucified Christ and the shroud is believed to be his burial shroud. Most skeptics think the image is a painting and a pious hoax. The shroud is kept in the cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.

Apparently, the first historical mention of the shroud as the "shroud of Turin" is in the late 16th century when the shroud was brought to the cathedral in that city, though it allegedly was discovered in Turkey during one of the so-called "Holy" Crusades in the so-called "Middle" Ages. In 1988, the Vatican allowed the shroud to be dated by three independent sources--Oxford University, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology--and each of them dated the cloth as originating in medieval times, around 1350.

Answer 3

The Vatican feels that the shroud is the most precious article that we have on earth today. They do not want tear a large portion of it off for carbon dating, but if you read more than one book on the shroud, you will find that they have allowed extensive study as long as it did not harm the shroud.

Answer 4

Yeah... The vatican never said that it was actually the real shroud and there was carban dating done to it and it was placed mid dark ages but that could have likely come from the fire that it was caught in. It is still unknown.

Answer 5

The Vatican made the Mother of Jesus, against the wishes of Jesus to be an equal, just over fifty years ago. so They are waiting for God to tell them the truth about a lot of things, not man. Please stop pestering them and find a real job.

Answer 6

The shroud is real. But no one knows how old it is. It can not be assigned to Jesus.

Answer 7

It would be like giving away the holy grail to those who dont care about god-------- i mean its like a babe ruth rookie card thats pristine and you give it to a five year old who trades it for a cookie at lunch

Answer 8

this is a generalization, but it seems to me that they
simply do not like to be questioned about anything.
i believe in a faith based religion, but 'believe as i say
because i tell you to believe it' isn't faith it is browbeating.