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Vatican to project Chinese artist’s portraits of inmates on prison exterior
Posted on 02/12/2025 19:20 PM (CNA Daily News)

Vatican City, Feb 12, 2025 / 14:20 pm (CNA).
A Chinese artist’s paintings of inmates living inside one of Rome’s most well-known prisons will be projected on the prison building’s exterior and displayed in a new exhibit space near the Vatican as part of 2025 Jubilee initiatives.
The 64-year-old Yan Pei-Ming is a contemporary artist who has been living in France since 1981. He is known for his “epic-sized” portraits of figures such as Chairman Mao, St. John Paul II, Bruce Lee, and Barack Obama.
Pei-Ming’s latest portrait series, 27 prisoners living inside Regina Coeli Prison, will be displayed on the side of the prison building. The works, created at the request of the Vatican’s education and culture dicastery, will be the inaugural exhibit of a new art space on Via della Conciliazione, the main street leading to St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Vatican will highlight the work of contemporary artists during the 2025 Jubilee Year and beyond with the new exhibit space, called “Conciliazione 5,” to be inaugurated Feb. 15 during the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture.
The Vatican has planned a slew of events for the Feb. 15–18 Jubilee of Artists, including the opening of the contemporary art space, Sunday Mass with Pope Francis, and the first-ever visit by a pope to the film studios of Cinecittà.
The Vatican expects more than 10,000 people from across the wider art and cultural environments — hailing from over 100 countries and five continents — to participate in events over the four days.
The curator of the Yan Pei-Ming exhibit at “Conciliazione 5,” Cristiana Perrella, told journalists on Wednesday that Pei-Ming created the 27 inmate portraits in a matter of 20 days late last year in a studio in Shanghai. Due to time constraints, the painter worked from photos and also asked for information about the prisoners’ lives.
The portraits, Perrella said, help us to remember that inmates “are not the crime they have committed, that people’s meanings are not in this — they are paying for a crime they have done — but ... the people who live in the prison are alive, they have thoughts and dreams. And Pei-Ming’s work helps us to remember all that, to look at the prison community with a different perspective. And that precisely is the strength of art, the strength of this project.”
“The theme of hope, strongly felt by Pope Francis, intersects humanity in places of hardship,” Lina Di Domenico, the head of the prison administration department of Italy’s Ministry of Justice, said Feb. 12.
“The faces portrayed by artist Yan Pei-Ming,” she said, “projected on the facade of Regina Coeli, will allow everyone to ‘see’ a cross-section of the humanity that lives beyond those walls, to approach a world as unknown and obscure to most as that of penal enforcement.”
Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça said at a Feb. 12 press conference the purpose of the Jubilee Year initiatives is to cultivate a dialogue on hope: “To question how contemporary art can convey hope by reaching out to sensitive human places. To search together for spiritual and artistic expressions that can serve as grammars and poetries of hope for the contemporary time.”
Concern for prisoners is strongly connected to the 2025 Jubilee and its theme of hope. For the first time, Pope Francis designated a jubilee Holy Door within a prison, opening the door on Dec. 26, 2024, in Rome’s Rebibbia Prison Complex.
Regina Coeli Prison, one of Rome’s most well-known prisons, is just over half a mile from the Vatican.
Originally the site of a 17th-century convent, from which it gets its name, the Regina Coeli Prison was constructed in 1881 by the Italian government after the country’s unification. A women’s prison called the Mantellate was later built nearby, also on the site of a former convent.
In 2018, Pope Francis celebrated Holy Thursday Mass at the prison, washing the feet of 12 inmates. The prison was also visited by St. John XXIII in 1958, by St. Paul VI in 1964, and by St. John Paul II in 2000.
Another notable person to visit the prison was Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, who attended Mass with some of the inmates in May 1994.
The second artist to be featured in the “Conciliazione 5” gallery space, Perrella said, will be an Albanian who immigrated to Italy in the 1990s. The artist’s exhibit will be on the theme of “journey” in the context of migration, the art curator said.
Pope Francis appoints 3 new bishops to U.S. dioceses
Posted on 02/12/2025 18:45 PM (CNA Daily News)

CNA Staff, Feb 12, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).
The Vatican on Wednesday announced that Pope Francis had appointed three new bishops to dioceses in the United States.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Dioceses of Sioux City, Iowa, and Norwich, Connecticut, all received new appointments, the Holy See said in a press statement.
All three of the retiring or retired prelates tendered their resignations to the Vatican upon their 75th birthdays in accordance with Church law.
Auxiliary bishop of Chicago to lead Cincinnati
Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, the Vatican said, and appointed Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Robert Casey to take his place in that archdiocese.
Schnurr has served as the Cincinnati archbishop since 2009. He had briefly served as coadjutor archbishop there and was the bishop of Duluth, Minnesota, from 2001 to 2008.
Casey was born in Chicago on Sept. 23, 1967. He studied at Niles College Seminary at Loyola University, graduating in 1989 with an English degree. He received a master of divinity degree from the University of St. Mary of the Lake in 1994.
Ordained on May 21, 1994, in the Archdiocese of Chicago, he served at several parishes before being appointed by Pope Francis as an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in July 2018. He was episcopally consecrated on Sept. 17 of that year.
In a press statement on Wednesday, Casey said he accepted the appointment “with gratitude and humility.”
“As archbishop, my primary role will be one of discipleship,” he said. “Entrusted with proclaiming the joy of the Gospel, I answer the call of Christ to accompany all in the archdiocese on the journey of faith, so that together we may deepen our love for God and neighbor.”
Schnurr, meanwhile, said Casey “is highly regarded by the people and priests he serves, and I am pleased such a good man will be shepherding the people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.”
Ohio priest will head to Sioux City
The pope also accepted Sioux City Bishop Ralph Walker Nickless’ resignation, the Vatican said, and appointed Father John Keehner, a parish priest in the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, to the Iowa bishopric.
Born Nov. 19, 1965, in Youngstown, Keehner studied at Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, and received a master’s degree in biblical studies from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Cincinnati. He went on to receive a licentiate in canon law from the Angelicum in Rome.
Ordained a priest in Youngstown on June 12, 1993, Keehner has served at numerous parishes there as well as on the diocesan tribunal and as rector of St. Columba Cathedral.
Massachusetts vicar general to lead Connecticut diocese
The Vatican also announced that Monsignor Richard Reidy, presently the vicar general of the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts, has been appointed the bishop of the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut.
That diocese has been overseen by Hartford Archbishop Christopher Coyne since the retirement of Bishop Michael Côté on Sept. 3, 2024.
Reidy was born on May 30, 1958, in Worcester. He studied at the College of the Holy Cross and received a law degree from Boston College in 1983.
He studied further at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and in Rome at the Pontifical North American College and received a doctorate in sacred theology from Pontifical Gregorian University and a master’s degree from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Ordained on June 25, 1994, he served at several parishes in Worcester, as vicar general and moderator of the curia, and as defender of the bond for the diocesan tribunal.
He also received a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 2010.
Coyne told media that he was “confident that [Reidy] will be an excellent shepherd for the people of the diocese.”
Tobin announces new review to probe Seton Hall president’s knowledge of abuse allegations
Posted on 02/12/2025 15:45 PM (CNA Daily News)

CNA Staff, Feb 12, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, this week announced an independent review to reexamine previous reports related to the actions of Monsignor Joseph Reilly, who was recently appointed president of Seton Hall University despite being accused in a previous investigation of mishandling sex abuse allegations.
In a Feb. 10 statement, Tobin announced an independent review by the law firm Ropes & Gray into internal reports to determine if Reilly acted appropriately when he was informed of abuse allegations, and if information was properly communicated to authorities — including to Tobin himself.
Seton Hall in August 2018 launched an independent review of accusations, first detailed in a CNA report, of sexual abuse and harassment against seminarians at Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrew’s College Seminary, both part of Seton Hall. Reilly was rector and dean of the seminary from 2012 until 2022.
A 2019 summary of the investigation results, released by the university, reported that the university’s reporting policies “were not always followed at Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrew’s Seminary, which resulted in incidents of sexual harassment going unreported to the university.” The summary report did not name Reilly by name.
A December 2024 investigative piece by Politico NJ, however, reported that despite the full investigation report concluding that Reilly knew of at least three sexual abuse allegations during his time as rector of Immaculate Conception Seminary and failed to report them, the university’s board of regents unanimously appointed Reilly as president in April 2024 and Tobin publicly expressed confidence in Reilly’s leadership.
Reilly’s appointment occurred despite a special university task force committee, formed to carry out disciplinary actions, citing Reilly for failure to report abusive conduct and in 2020 recommending his removal from Seton Hall boards and leadership, Politico reported.
Reilly subsequently stepped down as dean of the seminary to take a yearlong sabbatical but returned to the university in 2023 as vice provost for academics and Catholic identity. In 2024, he was unanimously appointed as the university’s new president.
Acknowledging disgraced former Newark archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s “inexcusable actions and shameful behavior” and the need to heal the wounds from the past, Tobin — who as archbishop serves as president of Seton Hall’s board of regents and chair of the board of trustees — said “questions have been raised” recently about previous independent review reports concerning Reilly, who is not himself accused of abuse.
Tobin continued that the new investigation will examine “how the findings of these reports relate to Monsignor Joseph Reilly, including whether they were communicated to any and all appropriate personnel at the archdiocese and Seton Hall University and Monsignor Reilly, and if so, by what means and by whom.”
“I have not placed a timetable on this review by Ropes & Gray, nor have I restricted the firm from exploring any relevant facts or avenue of investigation. A transparent review of the facts will best serve the interests of all involved and of those who have voiced a call for it,” the cardinal concluded.
Pope Francis at Wednesday audience: ‘Let us do penance for peace’
Posted on 02/12/2025 15:16 PM (CNA Daily News)

Vatican City, Feb 12, 2025 / 10:16 am (CNA).
Pope Francis held his general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday despite bronchitis affecting his breathing, with the Holy Father urging people to pray and do penance for peace in the world.
Making the effort to use his own voice at the end of the audience, the pope earnestly pleaded with Catholics to “do our best” to bring an end to all conflicts.

“Let us pray for peace, let us even do penance for peace,” the 88-year-old pontiff told pilgrims inside the Paul VI Audience Hall.
Expressing particular concern for the people of Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Holy Father reminded his listeners that “war is always a defeat.”
“I am thinking about many countries at war,” the pontiff shared with his listeners. “We were not born to kill but to make people grow.”
The pope asked Father Pierluigi Giroli on Wednesday to read his catechesis on his behalf, after briefly explaining to hundreds of pilgrims that bronchitis is still preventing him from comfortably using his voice at gatherings. “I hope that next time I can,” Francis said.
Reading the pope’s catechesis on St. Luke’s Gospel, Giroli said: “God does not come into the world with high-sounding proclamations; he does not manifest himself in clamor but begins his journey in humility.”
“The shepherds thus learn that in a very humble place, reserved for animals, the long-awaited Messiah is born and is born for them, to be their savior, their shepherd,” he continued.

Noting the shepherds’ openness to receive the news of the coming of Jesus, the pope’s catechesis emphasized that it is “the humblest and the poorest who are able to welcome the event of the Incarnation.”
“Brothers and sisters, let us also ask for the grace to be, like shepherds, capable of wonder and praise before God,” the pope shared in his prepared remarks.
“Let us ask the Lord to be able to discern in weakness the extraordinary strength of the Child God, who comes to renew the world and transform our lives with his plan full of hope for all humanity,” he added.
Despite bronchitis, Pope Francis held his General Audience, urging prayer and penance for peace. Unable to speak fully, he asked Fr. Giroli to read his catechesis, expressing hope to recover soon. Let us unite in prayer for Pope Francis’ health. pic.twitter.com/OJX7qTH8Dd
— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) February 12, 2025
Democratic Republic of Congo bishops stress need for ceasefire, dialogue, and human dignity
Posted on 02/12/2025 15:15 PM (CNA Daily News)

ACI Africa, Feb 12, 2025 / 10:15 am (CNA).
The leadership of the Justice, Peace, and Development Commission (JPDC) of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM-JPDC) is appealing for action for victims of violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In a Feb. 8 statement — which the second vice president of SECAM and chair of SECAM-JPDC, Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of Nigeria’s Yola Diocese, signed — the group also appealed for an immediate ceasefire.
“As Christians, we cannot remain indifferent to this tragic situation experienced by thousands of people, including women and children, who are forced to move without any glimmer of hope on the horizon for the moment concerning the cessation of hostilities,” the SECAM-JPDC statement said.
“We are deeply troubled by the numerous losses of life as well as the looting and destruction of property that have caused widespread suffering and significantly disrupted the lives of countless individuals and families in the region,” the bishops said, inviting “all people of goodwill to [hear] the cry for help by the people of DRC, through the voice of their religious and civil leaders.”
The bishops said there is a dire need for food, water, shelter, and medicines in the region, “especially for those people caught in the middle of the fight.”
SECAM-JPDC commended humanitarian agencies that have not only provided aid but also made attempts “to cool down the present animosity between the parties involved in the conflict.”
“We join in the call for an immediate ceasefire, reinforcement of the existing peace deals related to the conflict, and especially an immediate embargo on the arms deals that are fuelling the conflict,” SECAM-JPDC said.
Reflecting on St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the bishops underlined the importance of peace, saying: “It is through this divine peace that we are called to foster reconciliation and harmony among our communities.”
“During this time of turmoil, we urge all parties involved to seek dialogue over division, understanding over enmity, and solidarity over strife. We believe that a pathway to lasting peace can be forged through sincere and open dialogue,” SECAM-JPDC said.
The group’s leadership advocated for the fostering of human dignity and rights of every individual “as we collectively seek a future defined by justice and compassion.”
It urged local leaders, national authorities, the regional economic and political structures, the African Union, and international organizations to “continue and intensify their engagements in and facilitation of the initiatives that promote conflict resolution, dialogue, and respect of the life and the dignity of the human person.”
“Let us not forget the power of prayer and community as we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters affected by this conflict,” the bishops said in their statement.
“May our shared commitment to peace and justice reflect our faith as we work toward a brighter and more harmonious future for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the entire Great Lakes region.”
This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.
Vatican to host its first Summit on Longevity in March
Posted on 02/12/2025 12:00 PM (CNA Daily News)

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 12, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
The first Vatican Summit on Longevity will take place on March 24, bringing together experts and world leaders to explore the most advanced scientific discoveries and reflect on the fundamental ethical values that guide research in this field.
The summit will take place in the context of the 2025 Jubilee in the auditorium of the Augustinianum Conference Center in Rome in a meeting that will bring together scientists, Nobel laureates, and world leaders to address one of the crucial challenges of our time: promoting healthy, sustainable, and integral aging.
The idea for the meeting came from Alberto Carrara, president of the International Institute of Neurobioethics, and Viviana Kasam, president of BrainCircle Italy, who passed away in October 2024. The event is sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life, whose president, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, will open the event.
The Vatican Longevity Summit will not be an isolated event but the first step of an ambitious global project led by the Vatican in collaboration with international scientific and academic institutions.
According to a statement from the Pontifical Academy for Life, this project aims to promote a model of longevity that does not simply increase lifespan but enriches it in terms of quality, dignity, and sustainability, integrating science, ethics, and spirituality.
Furthermore, in line with shared ethical and anthropological principles, the International Institute of Neurobioethics aims to develop an interdisciplinary platform to foster dialogue between scientists, philosophers, bioethicists, and policymakers.
Integral human longevity will be the central theme of future activities, the statement said, with the aim of building a society that values all stages of life and promotes intergenerational solidarity.
“This summit represents not only a scientific reflection but [also] a call to consider aging as an ethical responsibility and an extraordinary opportunity for innovation for the common good,” the statement said.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Eucharistic procession a ‘breakthrough’ in Ireland
Posted on 02/12/2025 11:00 AM (CNA Daily News)

Derry, Northern Ireland, Feb 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
On the recent feast day of St. Brigid in Ireland, thousands of people walked the streets together in a joyful celebration of prayer that has attracted global interest. The Come Follow Me Procession on the feast of one of Ireland’s patron saints was organized by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR) and a group of lay Catholics.

“We want to bring Our Lord Jesus to people who no longer go to church, those who are lost or those who have no hope. There is a lot of darkness here, and when we lift Jesus high, we know that hearts are changed,” said Father Antonio Maria Diez de Medina, CFR, who has encouraged an active interest in Eucharistic processions in Ireland.
Holding the procession on the feast of St. Brigid was no accident, Diez de Medina explained to CNA. “There is a tendency to make her into a New Age saint or a goddess and part of it was to correct that,” he said.
“We need to carry Our Lord Jesus in our hearts, and I really believe there is a new fire, a new hope, and a new song,” he said.

Roisin Doherty, another organizer, said: “We are looking today to see Jesus come alive on the streets in public witness so that people will come to know Jesus Christ the King and his Eucharistic heart beating on the streets. This today is a breakthrough; Jesus is here, and Ireland is coming back to God.”
Worshippers of all ages took part in the Eucharistic procession, singing and bearing religious statues, banners, and flags with images of Jesus, St. Brigid, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Derry’s own Sister Clare Crockett.

The procession halted for adoration in Guildhall Square, a moving and powerful setting that was the scene of many past Catholic civil rights protests.
Prayer intentions included an end to abortion, euthanasia, and war; the healing of families from sin, division, addictions, and suicide; and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
“There can be a fear of expressing your faith, of hiding your Catholic identity, so we bring him to those who are lost, those who have given up on the Church, those who no longer go to church,” Diez de Medina said. “Really, we become his hands and feet when we bring him out onto the streets and venerate him.”
The Eucharistic procession was featured in a segment on “EWTN News Nightly,” which can be viewed below.
Pope makes surprise festival appearance with peace plea
Posted on 02/12/2025 02:20 AM (CNA Daily News)

CNA Newsroom, Feb 11, 2025 / 21:20 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis made a surprise appearance via video message at Italy’s premier musical event on Tuesday, telling participants at the 75th Sanremo Music Festival that music represents a message of peace capable of uniting diverse peoples.
Speaking from his residence at Casa Santa Marta in an unscheduled appearance, the pontiff praised music’s unique ability to transcend barriers.
“Music is beauty, music is an instrument of peace. It is a language that all peoples speak in different ways, reaching everyone’s heart,” the pope said in his message broadcast at the Teatro Ariston.
The Holy Father specifically addressed the plight of children affected by global conflicts.
“Many children cannot sing life — they weep and suffer because of the many injustices in the world, because of many wars, because of conflict situations,” Francis said. “Wars destroy children. Let us never forget that war is always a defeat.”
Francis concluded his message by meditating on music’s power to promote harmony among peoples.
“Music can help people live together, opening hearts to harmony and the joy of being together, with a common language of understanding that commits us to building a more just and fraternal world,” the pope said.
The Sanremo Music Festival, Italy’s most prominent song competition, has been held annually in the Ligurian coastal city since 1951. This year’s edition marks its 75th anniversary.
The festival traditionally serves as Italy’s selection platform for the Eurovision Song Contest and has launched the careers of numerous Italian music stars.
U.S. bishops ask Pope Francis for prayers to build better immigration system
Posted on 02/11/2025 23:44 PM (CNA Daily News)

CNA Staff, Feb 11, 2025 / 18:44 pm (CNA).
The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference has responded to Pope Francis’ letter to the bishops regarding the country’s latest drive to deport unauthorized immigrants, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding human dignity and the goal of building a humane system of immigration.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) thanked Pope Francis for his “prayerful support” and asked for the Holy Father to pray for the U.S. to improve its immigration system, protect communities, and safeguard human dignity.
“Boldly I ask for your continued prayers so that we may find the courage as a nation to build a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all,” Broglio wrote.
The letter was in response to Pope Francis’ Feb. 10 letter in which the Holy Father urged the U.S. to evaluate the justness of its policies in the light of human dignity and emphasized the inherent dignity of migrants.
Broglio, in turn, highlighted the importance of centering the issue on Christ.
“As successor to St. Peter, you call not only every Catholic but every Christian to what unites us in faith — offering the hope of Jesus Christ to every person, citizen and immigrant alike,” Broglio wrote on behalf of all the country’s bishops. “In these times of fear and confusion, we must be ready to answer our Savior’s question, ‘What have you done for the least of these?’”
Pope Francis in his letter proposed that a “rightly formed conscience” would disagree with associating the illegal status of some migrants with criminality, while at the same time he affirmed a nation’s right to defend itself from people who have committed violent or serious crimes. Additionally, the Holy Father weighed in on the Catholic concept of “ordo amoris” — “rightly ordered love” — which was recently invoked by Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, in the ongoing debate over the country’s refugee and immigration policies.
Broglio also directly addressed ongoing concerns around the U.S. government’s role in charitable aid. Noting the recent funding pause by the U.S. government, Broglio urged the U.S. and the faithful to support Catholic charity and relief organizations.
“We all turn to the Lord in prayer that families suffering from the sudden withdrawal of aid may find the strength to endure,” Broglio continued. “With you, we pray that the U.S. government keep its prior commitments to help those in desperate need.”
Under the Trump-Vance administration, the U.S. has paused its funding to most national and international charities. This includes Catholic organizations such as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities, which have since urged the administration to resume funding.
Meanwhile, the U.S. bishops’ conference last week laid off 50 staff members in its migration and refugee services office, citing a delay in reimbursements from the federal government.
“We also turn to the people of God to ask their mercy and generosity in supporting the Catholic Relief Services national collection this Lent as well as the ‘on the ground’ work of local Catholic Charities organizations so that the void might be filled with the efforts of all,” Broglio wrote.
Broglio concluded by highlighting the importance of fraternity, especially in the jubilee year.
“As we struggle to continue our care for the needy in our midst and the desire to improve the situation in those places from which immigrants come to our shores, we are ever mindful that in them we see the face of Christ,” Broglio wrote. “In this jubilee year, may we build bridges of reconciliation, inclusion, and fraternity.”
Saint John Paul II National Shrine to host exhibit on the Shroud of Turin during Lent
Posted on 02/11/2025 21:50 PM (CNA Daily News)

CNA Staff, Feb 11, 2025 / 16:50 pm (CNA).
Beginning on March 5, the first day of Lent, and running through Easter Sunday, April 20, the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., will host an exhibit called “‘Lord, You Could Not Love Me More!’: Saint John Paul II and the Shroud of Turin.”
The exhibit is a response to the beloved saint’s call for greater understanding of and devotion to the shroud — the burial cloth that many believe was used to wrap the body of Christ after his crucifixion.
During a visit to the shroud in 1998 in Turin, Italy, Pope John Paull II said: “The shroud does not hold people’s hearts to itself but turns them to him, at whose service the Father’s loving providence has put it. Therefore, it is right to foster an awareness of the precious value of this image, which everyone sees and no one at present can explain.”
“For every thoughtful person it is a reason for deep reflection, which can even involve one’s life,” he added. “The shroud is thus a truly unique sign that points to Jesus, the true word of the Father, and invites us to pattern our lives on the life of the One who gave himself for us.”
The exhibit will help visitors encounter the mystery of the shroud, its movement in history, the scientific research done to prove its authenticity, and the faithful devotion to all that the shroud reveals about salvation.
The exhibit will also include a replica of the Shroud of Turin on loan from the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit, over 30 gallery panels containing images and text, and a sculpture called “The Sign,” which renders a life-size 3D image of the man of the shroud.
Dr. Gilbert Lavoie, a medical expert on the study of the shroud and author of “The Shroud of Jesus: And the Sign John Ingeniously Concealed,” collaborated with sculptor Pablo Eduardo to create the sculpture, which is based on Lavoie’s research.
Lavoie’s current research on the sculpture will also be profiled in the exhibit.
Opening the exhibit during Lent is meant to encourage visitors to more fully participate in the repentance and conversion associated with the penitential season, which John Paul II touched on during his 1998 visit.
“Contemplation of that tortured body helps contemporary man to free himself from the superficiality of the selfishness with which he frequently treats love and sin. Echoing the word of God and centuries of Christian consciousness, the shroud whispers: Believe in God’s love, the greatest treasure given to humanity, and flee from sin, the greatest misfortune in history,” the saint said.
In a press release, Anthony Picarello, executive director of the shrine, said the exhibit “resonates so deeply” with St. John Paul II’s legacy.
“It illustrates how human beings can approach the deepest mysteries fruitfully with faith and reason together, how the human body can express the most radical love, and — especially during Lent — the power of redemptive suffering.”
The shrine’s director of mission and ministry, Grattan Brown, added: “In his pilgrimages to shrines around the world, St. John Paul II often observed that shrines are places where people can step away from their busy lives to deepen their spiritual connection to God. The Shroud of Turin, which may be the burial cloth of Jesus, connects us with Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, God’s most loving gift for humanity. It is a joy for the St. John Paul II National Shrine to offer this exhibit so that our pilgrims may experience God’s mercy during Lent.”