Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

Cardinal Ballestrero

The German newspaper Die Welt reported that Cardinal Ballestrero, the custodian of the shroud at the time of the carbon 14 dating thought Free Masonry had played a role in producing false results. Quoting him from an interview with his private secretary, the newspaper reported:

With the examinations that I had myself authorized, as soon as the solemn exposition (of 1978) was over, science became unleashed and centres for study of the Shroud shot up everywhere, for the most part in Protestant countries. This context gave rise to the most insistent requests for an examination to be conducted using carbon 14. At the same time, vicious calumny about the Church was purposely being spread around, accusing it of being the enemy of science because it feared the truth and was frightened of losing the relics from which it made money.

Asked, pointedly if he thought that freemasonry had not played a certain role in all this campaign. "Without question,"

There emerged, too, some rather wildly unscientific explanations posing as scientific explanations. One that has a great deal of unfortunate currency on the web is that extreme heat such as that caused by the fire in 1532 that so severely damaged the shroud could induce a change in carbon 14 content and hence alter the carbon dating results.