Vatican Insider

Welcome to Vatican Insider as we mark the three holy days of the Triduum and then the glorious news of the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior on Easter Sunday. As we approach Easter weekend, I want to give you a heads-up about the Special I have prepared for the interview segment where I try to answer the question, “Who is the Man of the Shroud?” For decades, as worshipers gather around the world to commemorate Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. scientists have been studying the results of tests made on an object alleged to be directly connected with that passion.

I sincerely hope you can join me on “Vatican Insider” this Palm Sunday weekend and start of Holy Week as I share a very special story about a two-millennia old piece of cloth linked to the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. Known as the the Shroud of Turin, I try to answer the question, “Who is the Man of the Shroud?” For decades, as worshipers gather around the world to commemorate Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, scientists have been studying the results of tests made on an object alleged to be directly connected with that passion. The object of intense religious devotion as well as scientific curiosity is a simple strip of linen known as the Shroud of Turin. It has been venerated by Christians for centuries as the burial cloth that wrapped the body of Jesus Christ in his tomb after his crucifixion and death.

This weekend, in what is normally the interview segment, I offer a mini-pilgrimage of sorts as we visit some of the Lenten Station churches in Rome, very special churches that tell a beautiful story over the 40 days of Lent, a story found only in Rome. I note at the start that, every year on Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, Popes process from the Benedictine church of Sant’Anselmo on the Aventine Hill to the nearby Dominican basilica of Santa Sabina, thus renewing a centuries-old Roman tradition of celebrating Mass at what are known here as Lenten station or stational churches.