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LA STAMPA

A Scientific Attempt To Solve The Shroud Of Turin Mystery

Professor Giulio Fanti has spent much of his life in search of a scientific explanation for the Shroud of Turin, the linen cloth that purports to bear the image of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. He has now arrived at his best conclusion, which may requi

What do you see? And how did it get there?
What do you see? And how did it get there?

*NEWSBITES

TURIN - Once and for all, says an Italian scientist, it's time to solve the mystery of the Shroud of Turin, the centuries-old linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man that tradition holds to be Jesus Christ.

A newly published study by Giulio Fanti -- professor of mechanical and thermic measurements at the University of Padua, who has made virtually a life's work of the puzzle -- zeroes in on as corona (energy) discharge as the most probable hypothesis to explain the formation of the body image.

In an article published in the American magazine Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, Fanti writes that this particular form of electromagnetic energy -- coming from Jesus Christ's resurrecting body -- might have formed the image.

"Ever since 1898, when the photographer Secondo Pia took the first photographs of the Turin Shroud, many researchers have advanced hypotheses to account for the body image creation," Fanti says.

In his article, he considers the most important hypotheses and confronts them with the 24 main features of the Shroud. He concludes that electromagnetic radiation was responsible for the formation of the image.

According to Fanti, the corona discharge hypothesis "meets all the peculiar features of the body image of the Shroud." But in order to obtain an image of that size, "a voltage of dozens of million of volts would have been necessary; or, leaving the scientific field, a phenomenon connected with the resurrection" might have occurred, says the professor.

Such is the delicate line between the science of faith, and faith in science.

Read more from La Stampa in Italian - Original article by Andrea Tornielli

Photo - Wikipedia

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Palestinian Olive Trees Are Also Under Israeli Occupation — And That's Not A Joke

In the West Bank, a quieter form of oppression has been plaguing Palestinians for a long time. Their olive groves are surrounded by soldiers, and it's forbidden to harvest the olives – this economic and social violence has gotten far worse since Oct. 7.

A Palestinian woman holds olives in her hands

In a file photo, Um Ahmed, 74, collects olives in the village of Sarra on the southwest of the West Bank city of Nablus.

Mohammed Turabi/ZUMA
Francesca Mannocchi

HEBRON – It was after Friday prayers on October 13th of last year, and Zakaria al-Arda was walking along the road that crosses his property's hillside to return home – but he never made it.

A settler from Havat Ma'on — an outpost bordering Al-Tuwani that the United Nations International Law and Israeli law considers illegal — descended from the hill with his rifle in hand.

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After kicking al-Arda, who tried to defend himself, the settler shot him in the abdomen. The bullet pierced through his stomach, a few centimeters below the lungs. Since then, al-Arda has been in the hospital in intensive care. A video of those moments clearly shows that neither al-Arda nor the other worshippers leaving the mosque were carrying any weapons.

The victim's cousin, Hafez Hureini, still lives in the town of Al-Tuwani. He is a farmer, and their house on the slope of the town is surrounded by olive trees — and Israeli soldiers. On the pine tree at the edge of his property, settlers have planted an Israeli flag. Today, Hafez lives, like everyone else, as an occupied individual.

He cannot work in his greenhouse, cannot sow his fields, and cannot harvest the olives from his precious olive trees.

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