Artificial intelligence has reignited the controversy surrounding the Shroud of Turin, which many believe to be the cloth bearing the image of Jesus Christ. New X-ray analyses show that this holy cloth really can be from the time of Christ and endow AI with the power to bring a graphically impressive representation of what may be the face of the Messiah.
For centuries, Christians have revered the Shroud of Turin as the winding cloth of Jesus, claiming it held the impression of His face.
Skepticism had its commencement in the 1980s when dating tests seemed to place the shroud once and for all into the 1300s and hinted at a possible medieval forgery.
Now, new findings are challenging that conclusion in Heritage, using new X-ray dating techniques that said the fabric was around 2,000 years old, which would be right in the time of Christ.
Using this new evidence, the advanced AI technologies now recreate an image believed to have been imprinted on the fabric.
The AI images were of a man with shoulder-length hair and a beard, a characteristic feature so strongly redolent of old Christian descriptions of Jesus.
One depiction, very much the same as any other classical Christian depiction up to the point of an intense look and grim facial expression, was created by AI platform Midjourney.
Other versions of the image of the AI have the figure with piercing blue eyes, then again in some sort of head covering, only fueling more curiosity and speculation at this junentured.
Another rendering obtained by The Post shows a much more meditative version, which shows the man with his eyes closed and his lips slightly apart, almost in prayer.
Dr. Liberato de Caro, the first author of the Heritage analysis published by their X-ray study, similarly concluded Shroud fabric aligns with comparable material from Masada, Israel dating from 55 to 74 CE. This, he added, shows the ancient age of the Shroud is correct and other studies probably tainted by contamination.
Other microscopic findings show that minute pollen particles are trapped in the fibers of the Shroud, believed to come from the Middle East. This further asserts and undermines the argument of the cloth having emanated from Europe.
All these findings, very impressive as they are, the Shroud of Turin comes in to be highly controversial.
Although many popes had considered it a most valuable religious relic, the Catholic Church has never confirmed the Shroud as authentic.
Even Francis went so far as to travel to Turin in 2015 to pray in front of the Shroud so as to underline for others its deep spiritual importance.
