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PASTORAL VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
TO VERCELLI AND TURIN (ITALY)
(MAY 23-24, 1998)
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II
on his visit to the Shroud of Turin
May 24, 1998
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. With my gaze turned to the Shroud, I would like to extend a
cordial greeting to you all, the faithful of the Church of
Turin. I greet the pilgrims who have come from every part of the
world at the time of this public exposition to look at one of
the most unsettling signs of the Redeemer's suffering love.
As I entered the cathedral, which still shows the scars of last
year's terrible fire, I paused in adoration before the
Eucharist, the sacrament which is the focus of the Church's
attention and, under humble appearances, contains the true, real
and substantial presence of Christ. In the light of Christ's
presence in our midst, I then stopped before the Shroud, the
precious Linen that can help us better to understand the mystery
of the love of God's Son for us. Before the Shroud, the intense
and agonizing image of an unspeakable torment, I wish to thank
the Lord for this unique gift, which asks for the believer's
loving attention and complete willingness to follow the Lord.
2. The Shroud is a challenge to our intelligence. It first of
all requires of every person, particularly the researcher, that
he humbly grasp the profound message it sends to his reason and
his life. The mysterious fascination of the Shroud forces
questions to be raised about the sacred Linen and the historical
life of Jesus. Since it is not a matter of faith, the Church has
no specific competence to pronounce on these questions. She
entrusts to scientists the task of continuing to investigate, so
that satisfactory answers may be found to the questions
connected with this Sheet, which, according to tradition,
wrapped the body of our Redeemer after he had been taken down
from the cross. The Church urges that the Shroud be studied
without pre-established positions that take for granted results
that are not such; she invites them to act with interior freedom
and attentive respect for both scientific methodology and the
sensibilities of believers.
3. For the believer, what counts above all is that the Shroud is
a mirror of the Gospel. In fact, if we reflect on the sacred
Linen, we cannot escape the idea that the image it presents has
such a profound relationship with what the Gospels tell of
Jesus' passion and death, that every sensitive person feels
inwardly touched and moved at beholding it. Whoever approaches
it is also aware that the Shroud does not hold people's hearts
to itself, but turns them to him, at whose service the Father's
loving providence has put it. Therefore, it is right to foster
an awareness of the precious value of this image, which everyone
sees and no one at present can explain. For every thoughtful
person it is a reason for deep reflection, which can even
involve one's life. The Shroud is thus a truly unique sign that
points to Jesus, the true Word of the Father, and invites us to
pattern our lives on the life of the One who gave himself for
us.
4. The image of human suffering is reflected in the Shroud. It
reminds modern man, often distracted by prosperity and
technological achievements, of the tragic situation of his many
brothers and sisters, and invites him to question himself about
the mystery of suffering in order to explore its causes. The
imprint left by the tortured body of the Crucified One, which
attests to the tremendous human capacity for causing pain and
death to one's fellow man, stands as an icon of the suffering of
the innocent in every age: of the countless tragedies that have
marked past history and the dramas that continue to unfold in
the world. Before the Shroud, how can we not think of the
millions of people who die of hunger, of the horrors committed
in the many wars that soak nations in blood, of the brutal
exploitation of women and children, of the millions of human
beings who live in hardship and humiliation on the edges of
great cities, especially in developing countries? How can we not
recall with dismay and pity those who do not enjoy basic civil
rights, the victims of torture and terrorism, the slaves of
criminal organizations? By calling to mind these tragic
situations, the Shroud not only spurs us to abandon our
selfishness but leads us to discover the mystery of suffering,
which, sanctified by Christ's sacrifice, achieves salvation for
all humanity. Death is not the ultimate goal of human existence
5. The Shroud is also an image of God's love as well as of human
sin. It invites us to rediscover the ultimate reason for Jesus'
redeeming death. In the incomparable suffering that it
documents, the love of the One who "so loved the world that he
gave his only Son" (Jn 3: 16) is made almost tangible and
reveals its astonishing dimensions. In its presence believers
can only exclaim in all truth: "Lord, you could not love me
more!", and immediately realize that sin is responsible for that
suffering: the sins of every human being.
As it speaks to us of love and sin, the Shroud invites us all to
impress upon our spirit the face of God's love, to remove from
it the tremendous reality of sin. Contemplation of that tortured
Body helps contemporary man to free himself from the
superficiality of the selfishness with which he frequently
treats love and sin. Echoing the word of God and centuries of
Christian consciousness, the Shroud whispers: believe in God's
love, the greatest treasure given to humanity, and flee from
sin, the greatest misfortune in history.
6. The Shroud is also an image of powerlessness: the
powerlessness of death, in which the ultimate consequence of the
mystery of the Incarnation is revealed. The burial cloth spurs
us to measure ourselves against the most troubling aspect of the
mystery of the Incarnation, which is also the one that shows
with how much truth God truly became man, taking on our
condition in all things, except sin. Everyone is shaken by the
thought that not even the Son of God withstood the power of
death, but we are all moved at the thought that he so shared our
human condition as willingly to subject himself to the total
powerlessness of the moment when life is spent. It is the
experience of Holy Saturday, an important stage on Jesus' path
to Glory, from which a ray of light shines on the sorrow and
death of every person. By reminding us of Christ's victory,
faith gives us the certainty that the grave is not the ultimate
goal of existence. God calls us to resurrection and immortal
life.
7. The Shroud is an image of silence. There is a tragic silence
of incommunicability, which finds its greatest expression in
death, and there is the silence of fruitfulness, which belongs
to whoever refrains from being heard outwardly in order to delve
to the roots of truth and life. The Shroud expresses not only
the silence of death but also the courageous and fruitful
silence of triumph over the transitory, through total immersion
in God's eternal present. It thus offers a moving confirmation
of the fact that the merciful omnipotence of our God is not
restrained by any power of evil, but knows instead how to make
the very power of evil contribute to good. Our age needs to
rediscover the fruitfulness of silence, in order to overcome the
dissipation of sounds, images and chatter that too often prevent
the voice of God from being heard.
8. Dear brothers and sisters: your Archbishop, dear Cardinal
Giovanni Saldarini, the Pontifical Guardian of the Holy Shroud,
has offered the following words as the motto of this Solemn
Exposition: "All will see your salvation". Yes, the pilgrimage
that great throngs are making to this city is precisely a
"coming to see" this tragic and enlightening sign of the
Passion, which proclaims the Redeemer's love. This icon of
Christ abandoned in the dramatic and solemn state of death,
which for centuries has been the subject of significant
representations and for 100 years, thanks to photography, has
been so frequently reproduced, urges us to go to the heart of
the mystery of life and death, to discover the great and
consoling message it has left us.
The Shroud shows us Jesus at the moment of his greatest
helplessness and reminds us that in the abasement of that death
lies the salvation of the whole world. The Shroud thus becomes
an invitation to face every experience, including that of
suffering and extreme helplessness, with the attitude of those
who believe that God's merciful love overcomes every poverty,
every limitation, every temptation to despair.
May the Spirit of God, who dwells in our hearts, instil in
everyone the desire and generosity necessary for accepting the
Shroud's message and for making it the decisive inspiration of
our lives.
Anima Chrisi, sanctifica me! Corpus Christi, salva me! Passio
Christi, conforta me! Intra vulnera tua, absconde me!
© Copyright 1998 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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