Dr. Ibáñez-Soto: We thus reach the last limit of scientism, the moment where forensic archeology and physics surrender to material evidence. I am referring to the Shroud of Turin. Is it, as skeptics say, simply a matter of having faith or not?
Father Dr. Manuel Carreira: "I would like it to be very clear that our faith does not depend on any relic... there is no dogma about the Shroud of Turin. It is an object of archaeological interest, an ancient object that must be studied with the same methodology with which all ancient objects are studied... What is in the Shroud of Turin? A unique canvas in the world... that has an image of a man from the front and back who has died with a series of wounds inflicted by a Roman whip... crucified according to the Roman way of 2000 years ago and who received a spear in the side."
Dr. Ibáñez-Soto: The truly terrifying thing for skeptics is that, despite the immense budgets and the very high modern technology, it is a technologically impossible relic.
Father Dr. Manuel Carreira: "This image has never been able to be reproduced in the laboratory by any method of all the technology of the 20th century. This is what we have to explain, we are not talking about a vision or a myth... and the best proof of its authenticity is that no one is capable of producing such an image, and the proof would naturally be the opposite: that someone presents it. And I have done it: 'Well, do it and bring it'. No one manages to do that."
Dr. Ibáñez-Soto: A funeral shroud contaminated with blood was impure for a first century Jew. The mere existence and preservation of this cloth defies all of ancient Hebrew anthropology.
Father Dr. Manuel Carreira: "A burial cloth that for a Jew was something unthinkable, not even touching it... Well, a burial cloth with blood stains is preserved as a precious thing for 20 centuries? Why? The only logical answer is because it was no longer a dead person. They had seen him alive and that is why there was no longer any impurity in having this cloth, it was on the contrary a sign of how much Christ had suffered for us and marked the beginning of Faith in the resurrection."
With this fourth installment we conclude the special series dedicated to the distinguished Father Dr. Manuel Carreira. Through his own words we verify, once again, that theological truth and scientific evidence point inescapably to the same Creator.
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