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Pastoral of the Shroud
The Shroud is now back to the silence that belongs to the Sepulcher. The purpose of the exposition was fulfilled every time somebody watched the Shroud, meditating and contemplating on Jesus’ sufferings and merciful love, every time somebody verified his own faith in everyday life, and every time they thought about today’s human’s sufferings that repeat Jesus’ ancient grief. The attention to the Shroud is a limited issue in a pastoral, but it is a fragment of a whole that is extremely helpful to the whole. The pastoral of the Shroud is not an obligation but we can not do without it. As all the things God put in human existence, the Shroud asks for an obedient answer: we have to try to understand the reason why God gave it to us. The pastoral of the Shroud is meant to be an obedient answer, and it wants to help us to give good answers to the presence of this mysterious object. The importance we should give to the Shroud depends on the circumstances of our era, today the Shroud is a powerful sign that can speak to men’s heart. Maybe this is a consequence of the fact we live in the "era of images". This is the end of our notes, even though many readers still have many unanswered
questions. I do not try to summarize the events of the latest exposition. Because I do not
think it is possible to give an equilibrate evaluation of pros and cons yet: the
organization was generally satisfactory, but the application of the pastoral needs a more
carful verification. (15).
Mons. Giuseppe Ghiberti
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