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Turin, 27 September 2000 During the week between Monday 4 and Sunday 10 September, 102.130 pilgrims walked before the Shroud. 466.453 pilgrims have come to see the Exposition in the days between its opening and 17 September. However, we should also consider 114.000 people more, who walked in the Duomo through its main entrance to see the Shroud from afar. 99.642 people are expected to visit the Exposition of the Shroud next week, although we should remember that many reservations are usually made last minute. 828.264 reservations were made before 24 September, at 4 p.m., for the whole period of the Exposition, while 78.139 reservations were made in the week from 11 to 17 September.
Foreign visitors’ number “overlapped” A group of 16 pilgrims from Israel arrived at the Duomo on Sunday 24 at noon. With their coming, the Exposition recorded the highest number of foreigners if compared to 1998. Two years ago, there had been 58.829 foreigners in total; this year - four weeks before the end - 59.495 pilgrims came from abroad to visit the Exposition. On 24 September, 1.762 foreigners attended the Exposition and the reservations already made, count 32 thousand foreign people more. There is an average of 1.263 foreigners per day (two years ago the average was 1.068)
Catholic and Orthodox churches together before the Shroud An historical fact. Mon. With these words, Severino Poletto (archbishop of Torino) described the coming of Kirill Gundiaev, Metropolite of Smolensk and Kaliningrad on 22 and 23 September. On 23 September, during a meeting with the press, Mr Kirill stated that “the meeting with the Church of Torino is a very important fact, especially because it was blessed by Alexis II, Patriarch and Pope of Moscow.” “The future of the relationship between the two churches depends on our ability to work together and on God’s Grace: I believe in our future, I am convinced that there is the possibility to win all the difficulties and challenges that civilisation keeps for the faithful, difficulties which are similar, both in Russia and in Italy” The Metropolite visited the Exposition on 23 September, in the afternoon, but on the previous night the evening prayer celebration had already been and occasion to contemplate the Shroud and meet the church of Torino. “The great majority of the faithful in Russia believes that the Shroud is authentic - the Metropolite said. That is the reason why so many pilgrims came from Ukraine and Russia”; in fact, the data collected confirm it: more than 600 reservations were made from the former Soviet Union area. The celebration of the evening prayer was attended by many, both Catholics and Orthodox visitors: the ceremony was held by the Metropolite himself, who was sitting in the presbytery in front of the archbishop of Torino, Mon. Poletto, and of his auxiliary Mon. Piergiorgio Micchiardi. When the prayer began, Mon. Poletto spoke some words of welcome to the Russian delegation. At the end of the celebration, then, the Metropolite Kirill thanked everybody for the warm welcome he had received: “for us, representatives of the Orthodox Russian Church, it is a big honour and a great joy to stay here and pray before this image of Christ, which he gave to us himself - Kirill said - As we know, the division between our churches is a problem for theologians, and it is very important that we are working on it. I think that the schism is like a plate, which at the moment is broken. The unity cannot be reached until a piece of the plate is in the kitchen and another is in another room; we should put the pieces together and today we are trying to”.
Cei permanent council in Torino On 20 September at 5.30 pm, the members of the permanent council of Cei, during their meeting which took place in Torino form 18 to 21 September, went to visit the Exposition. The seven Cardinals (Ruini, Biffi, Martini, Cè, Tettamanzi, Piovanelli and Giordano) and the 20 bishops who are in the Council, walked with Mon. Giuseppe Ghiberti, president of the Diocesan Commission for the Exposition of the Shroud. Before going to see the linen, they stopped long the three meditative stations of the path and before the model made for the blind. The prayer before the Shroud was said by the bishop of Torino, and council member, Mon. Severino Poletto. At the end of the visit there was a mass in Duomo, celebrated by the president of Cei, card. Camillo Ruini, together with about forty priests from Torino. “It is a gift and a privilege for us - said Mon. Poletto before the celebration - to have in Torino a meeting of Cei Council. The pilgrimage of bishops is certainly a sign of comfort and encouragement for the Exposition of the Shroud and also for the Church of Torino. “We have contemplated this ancient linen; - card. Ruini said in his homily - through this our contemplation and prayer spoke to Jesus dead on the Cross; so we have somehow entered in the reality and physicality of his Passion”.
Exhibition at the Biblioteca Reale (Royal Library) On 21 September, an exhibition called Images of the Shroud and Leonardo’s drawings opened. It is a collection of iconography of the Shroud and it takes place in the Royal Library (p.za Castello 191) until 29 October. It displays documents from the Expositions of the Shroud organised by the Royal house of Savoy since 1453, it includes miniatures paintings and prints. The exhibition is going to be open until 22 October from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 7 p.m.; the ticket should be booked in advance through the Exposition web site www.giubileo.piemonte.it, or calling the free number 800.329.329. The ticket price is 10.000 liras for adults and 8.000 for children.
Comitato per l’Ostensione solenne della Sindone e per l'anno
giubilare 2000 |
