Mexican expert on the Shroud of Turin

Mexican expert on Shroud points out flaws of supposed 'duplicate'

Mexico City, Mexico, Oct 12, 2009 / 02:57 pm (CNA).

The president of the Mexican Shroud of Turin Center, Adolfo Orozco, said last week that the announcement of the creation of an allegedly exact replica of the Shroud of Turin is nothing more than “a trick to attack the Shroud.” Orozco also pointed out various details that show the flaws of the experiment.

Last week the Italian scientist Luigi Garlaschelli announced he had created a replica of the Holy Shroud with materials and techniques that were available in the 1300s. The project was conducted with financing from the Italian Committee on Paranormal Phenomena and the Union of Rationalists, Atheists and Agnostics.

Garlaschelli said his experiment proves the image on the Shroud “could have been made with instruments available during that era.”

However, Orozco explained that in the case of the Shroud, “the blood was present on the cloth before the image, and not vice-versa, as was done by the supposed ‘reproducer.’”

In this sense, he pointed out that “the image on the Shroud is not from contact. This was proven by scientists in 1978. There are parts of the cloth that have the image and were not in contact with the body,” he explained.

Doctors also showed that the blood on the cloth appears in places that are clinically and pathological correct, with details unknown in the 13th century, Orozco said.

The Mexican expert also took issue with Garlaschelli adding other features to his replica. It is “ridiculous to try to reproduce the burn marks from the fire of 1532 and the water marks, which have nothing to do with the original image.”

“The image is similar,” he noted, “but it does not have the three-dimensional properties that are characteristic of the Shroud.”

“It’s all just another trick to attack the Shroud,” he argued.

“Garlaschelli himself acknowledged that he was financed by a group of atheists and agnostics.

"Why doesn’t he mention the three-dimensionality? Because he cannot reproduce it with his methods and as always, the news is being manipulated. Instead of saying that a scientist claims the Shroud can be replicated, the headline reads: ‘Italian scientist reproduces Shroud’, conclusively stating that it has been reproduced. They should have said: Italian scientist claims to have reproduced Shroud,’” Orozco stated.

• Sabana Santa