The Roman Catholic Church could allow new tests to be carried out on the Shroud of Turin to try to solve the riddle of one of Christianity’s most enduring enigmas, the archbishop of Turin said Monday.

“We know it has to be science, and not faith, that has the last word on this mysterious image,” Archbishop Severino Poletto told a news conference at the Vatican.

“We can’t exclude new tests, in particular on some strands of the cloth where the image is found.” Previously Dated by Many

Controversial carbon dating tests carried out by scientists in Oxford, England, Zurich, Switzerland, and Tucson, Ariz., concluded in 1988 that the Shroud dated from between 1260 and 1390.

The results caused a sensation — suggesting one of the church’s most revered relics was a clever medieval fake, rather than confirmation that it was the burial cloth that wrapped Christ’s body after his crucifixion. But no one has been able to get to the bottom of how the three-dimensional, heat-resistant and apparently indelible image of a man with long hair and wounds consistent with Gospel descriptions came to be imprinted on the ancient linen cloth.

The sheet also bears traces of ancient male type AB blood, which some scientists say is consistent with traumatic injuries. On Display for Holy Year Archbishop Poletto said he had noted divisions over the carbon dating results among the 39 scientists who attended a Shroud symposium in March.

The Shroud goes on display in Turin from Aug. 12 to Oct. 22 as part of the Vatican’s Holy Year celebrations.

“On the dating, I talked to four of them. Two were in favour and two, one from Hong Kong and one from Russia, radically criticized the method that was used,” Poletto said. “So everything has to be done again. On this subject, the last word has not been said. There is need for more research.”

The Shroud, which is kept in Turin, belongs to the Vatican, and it would have to give its permission for any new testing. But Poletto’s suggestion that new tests could take place was a major about-turn: His predecessor as Turin archbishop, Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini, flatly ruled out allowing more tests when the Shroud last went on public display in 1998. “Any future new tests to date the Shroud will be authorized only when the method has been clarified further,” Monsignor Giuseppe Ghiberti, one of the church’s top Shroud officials, said. “Otherwise, the concerns expressed by one part of the scientific world over that dating, which could be affected by the trials and tribulations of the Shroud over the centuries and in particular the heat from fires, would affect any new tests.”

Vatican Makes No Claims The ancient, yellowing linen cloth, which measures 14.5 by 3.9 feet (4.4 by 1.2 meters) has had a rough life, damaged by water and more than once narrowly escaping destruction by fire.

The Vatican does not claim the Shroud is authentic but treasures and venerates it as a powerful reminder of Christ’s passion.

Pope John Paul said in 1998 after traveling to Turin to pray before the Shroud that scientists should keep seeking answers to its mystery but should keep an open mind.

Poletto said the Pope and Russian Patriarch Alexiy II had both been invited when the Shroud goes on display this year. The two men, whose churches are undergoing a period of strained relations, have never met but the pope dreams of visiting Moscow. He turned 80 last week.

“They’ve already told me it will be very hard for the pope to come back to Turin because of his Holy Year commitments here in Rome, but the pope has surprised us with unexpected gestures, before and I haven’t lost hope,” Poletto said.