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Pope makes pilgrimage to see 'face of Jesus' in monastery

Pope Benedict became the first pontiff yesterday to visit "Veronica's Veil", which Christian tradition says was used to wipe the sweat from Jesus' brow on his way to crucifixion and miraculously recorded his features.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 00:00 September 2, 2006
  • Gulf News

  • Pope in front of 'Veronica's Veil' at Manoppello monastery.
  • Image Credit: Reuters

Rome: Pope Benedict became the first pontiff yesterday to visit "Veronica's Veil", which Christian tradition says was used to wipe the sweat from Jesus' brow on his way to crucifixion and miraculously recorded his features.

Benedict knelt in prayer before the relic also known as the "Sacred Visage", which has been guarded by Capuchin friars in a remote monastery in Manoppello in the Apennine mountains for centuries.

But the Pope stopped short of endorsing the veil, venerated since the Middle Ages, as the true face of Christ.

"Together we seek to know the face of our Lord and in it find a path for our lives," the German-born Pope said.

The fragile cloth depicts very clearly, in blood-red hues, a bearded man bearing a striking resemblance to a more famous relic, the Turin Shroud in Italy, which is revered by some Christians as the cloth used to wrap Christ's body.

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