Extraordinary public display of
Turin Shroud in 2020
 |
| Pope Francis at the Turin Shroud in June 2015 (Vatican Media) |
The Shroud of Turin, believed by many to be the burial cloth
of Jesus, will be publicly displayed again on the occasion of the Taizé
Community’s next annual meeting of Europe’s youth in Turin, Italy, in December
2020.
By Robin Gomes
The announcement of the extraordinary display of the revered
cloth was made by Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin at Wroclaw, Poland, where
this year’s annual meeting of Europe’s young people, known as the “Pilgrimage
of Trust on Earth”, is currently taking place.
The Taizé Community has chosen the northern Italian city of
Turin as the venue of its next meeting of Europe’s young people, scheduled from
December 28, 2020, to January 1, 2021.
There is no official teaching or dogma on the authenticity
of the Shroud, which is housed in the Cathedral of Turin. Next year will be the
fifth time that the shroud will be on public display since 2000.
The last time it was on display was from April 19 to June
24, 2015, in the cathedral of Turin. Visiting the city, June 21-22, Pope
Francis prayed silently for several minutes before the Shroud without any
comment. However, at the end of the Mass in the square that followed, he
regarded the Shroud as an icon of Christ’s love.
“The Shroud,” he said, “attracts people to the face and
tortured body of Jesus and, at the same time, urges us on toward every person
who is suffering and unjustly persecuted.” “It urges us on in the same
direction as Jesus’ gift of love.”
Previous popes have also visited the northern city during
earlier displays of the Shroud. When Pope Saint John Paul II saw the shroud in
1998, he said the mystery surrounding the cloth forces questions about faith
and science and whether it really was Jesus' burial linen. He urged continuous
study. Pope Benedict XVI described the cloth as an icon “written with
the blood” of a crucified man.
Archbishop Nosiglia noted that Turin and the ecumenical
Taizé Community have a bond that has lasted for decades. Numerous groups of
young people from Italy’s Piedmont region - of which Turin is the capital -
travel regularly to participate in Taizé’s annual "Pilgrimage of trust on
Earth". Many Taizé prayer meetings are also organized in Turin
itself.
Archbishop Nosiglia will hold a press conference on January
3 in Turin to present the initiatives related of next year’s “Pilgrimage of
Trust on Earth”. The Church of Turin is preparing to welcome thousands of young
people in homes and communities. Besides workshops and exchanges, there will
also be time for contemplation on the Shroud.
The Taizé Community’s “Pilgrimage of trust on Earth” will be
hosted for the first time in Turin. However, the gathering has been hosted six
times in Italy – in Rome in 1980, 1982, 1987 and 2012, and in Milan 1998
and 2005.
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