Pope visiting Holy Shroud on Sunday

(May 1, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI is paying a day visit to the northern Italian city of Turin on Sunday to venerate the Holy Shroud, believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus. In the morning, the Pope will leave Rome in a helicopter for Turin airport from where he will proceed to the city’s San Carlo Square where he will concelebrate Holy Mass for the people. In the afternoon after a meeting with yough people in the same square, he will proceed to the city’s cathedral to venerate the Shroud. Later in the evening after a meeting with sick people at the Little House of Divine Providence of Cottolengo he will fly back to Rome. Cardinal Severino Poletto, Archbishop of Turinbegan a novena prayer on April 23 in preparation for the papal visit. The Holy Shroud, also known as the Turin Shroud, is on public display in Turin Cathedral from April 10 to May 23. The long linen with the faded image of a bearded man is the object of centuries-old fascination and wonderment, and closely kept under wrap. Traditionally, the public gets a peek at the shroud only once every 25 years. But recent decades have seen much shorter intervals. The shroud went on display in 1998 after a 20-year-wait and then in 2000 during Millennium celebrations. The Catholic Church does not claim the Shroud is authentic or that it is a matter of faith.