This dating is compatible with the tradition that the cloth with the image of a crucified man imprinted on it is the one in which Jesus' body was wrapped when he was placed in the tomb on Good Friday.

The new tests were carried out by university professors from various Italian universities.

"We carried out three alternative dating tests on the shroud, two chemical and one mechanical, and they all gave the same result and they all traced back to the date of Jesus, with a possible margin of error of 250 years," said Giulio Fanti, an associate professor of mechanical and thermal measurement at Padua.

The first two tests were carried out with an FT-IR system, using infra-red light, and the other using Raman spectroscopy. The third was a multi-parametric mechanical test based on five different mechanical parameters.

The machine used to examine the shroud's fibres and test traction allowed researchers to examine tiny fibres alongside about 20 samples of cloth dated between 3000 BC and AD 2000.

The results have been published in a book by Fanti and journalist Saverio Gaeta, Il Mistero della Sindone (The Mystery of the Shroud).

In 1988 teams from Oxford, the University of Arizona and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, under the auspices of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, did radiocarbon testing on small samples from the shroud, dating them to between 1260 and 1390.

Subsequently, however, questions were raised as to whether the samples used in the 1988 testing were representative of the whole shroud.

New high-definition image of the entire surface of the shroud have been presented in a special app developed by the Italian company Haltadefinizione, called "Shroud 2.0".

Sources:

Vatican Insider

National Catholic Reporter

Haltadefinizione

Image: Guardian Express

For pastoral and ecumenical reasons, the Latin Patriarchate of the Holy Land has decided from this year onwards to follow the Orthodox liturgical schedule.

The change will come as a relief for many mixed families, whose Catholic and Orthodox members up till now have had to celebrate Easter on different dates.

It will also help overcome the impression of division among Christians. A Palestinian man, Ghassan Rafidi, the son of a Catholic mother and a Greek Orthodox father, says: "The Muslims always ask us how many Jesuses do we have."

"The main reason for the unification of the Easter celebration is for members of the same family, village and parish to be able to have one celebration, and one calendar, and to show the unity and enjoy the unity. We want to give a good example of unity to our non-Christian neighbours," said the Latin Patriarchate chancellor, Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali.

Bishop Shomali said although the Catholics did not ask the Greek Orthodox Church to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, he expects they will do so to unite Christians for that feast.

The change will apply throughout Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Cyprus.

Exceptions will apply for Jerusalem (where Christ's Resurrection occurred), Bethlehem and Tel Aviv, where Easter Sunday this year will fall on March 31 — the same date as for the rest of the Catholic world.

The dating of Easter was fixed following the Council of Nicea in AD 325. It was to be celebrated on the first Sunday following the full moon after the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox (which is reckoned to be March 21).

The reason for the difference between Catholic and Orthodox dates goes back to 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar to correct a miscalculation in the rotation of the earth.

The Orthodox continued to use the Julian calendar, which dates back to Julius Caesar.

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Image: Travelujah