(LifeSiteNews) — Despite being over two years old, a recently highlighted study on the Shroud of Turin has given rise to an AI-produced image of Our Lord that has now been viewed by millions on social media.
On August 21, the Daily Express – a U.K. based tabloid daily – published an image of Christ that had been made using AI software Midjourney.
“Artificial intelligence has recreated the ‘face of Jesus Christ’ from a piece of cloth some believe was used to wrap him after his Crucifixion,” the Daily Express wrote. The paper did not give details on what instructions had been provided to the AI software in order to produce the image.
The suddenly topical nature of the Shroud of Turin appeared to be prompted by an August 19 report by the Daily Mail, which cited a scientific study led by Dr. Liberato De Caro published in Heritage Journal, though the original source was not linked. (The original study can be found here).
The Heritage study used a wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) method to examine the shroud’s cellulose fibers, yielding data that is “compatible with the hypothesis that the Turin Shroud is a 2,000-year-old relic.”
However, the study was actually published in 2022 and due to the Daily Mail’s apparent oversight on the study being two years old and reporting it as a fresh development, numerous other mainstream outlets and tabloids in the U.K. and the U.S. soon published almost identical reports to the Daily Mail – without sourcing the original 2022 study or highlighting the age of the study.
The Daily Express’ use of AI to recreate a possible image of Christ has swiftly captured public attention.
Coupled with news of the study proving the Shroud’s 2,000-year age, the images have gone viral on social media with little evidence of people being alerted to the study’s actual date of publication.
In two days, thanks to just 11 specific viral posts on X, the AI image of Christ has been viewed over 13.3 million times by the time of publication of this report.
Indeed, mainstream reports on the AI images have subsequently been published in outlets such as the New York Post and the Daily Star.
The AI image has divided opinions among Catholics, with some vocally opposing sharing a computer-generated image of Christ and warning about the possibility of idolatry. Others have defended it.
Crisis Magazine editor Eric Sammons – whose two X posts on the AI image garnered over 800,000 views – defended the Daily Express’ image. He compared the image to the automatic adjustments made by digital cameras to photographs: “The same is true of the AI-assisted image being shared that is based on the Shroud of Turin. It’s enhancing an existing (and in that case, a miraculous) image.”
Respected author Leila Lawler summarized opposition to the AI image, however, saying, “Yes, we need to make distinctions. But the AI-generated photo from the Shroud has dangers that a photo made from its ‘negative’ doesn’t.”
However, the hugely viral nature of the AI image in such a short space of time suggests that public sentiment, or at least Catholic sentiment, is favorable to the work.
“With the recent news validating the Shroud of Turin, and the AI-developed image of what Our Lord looked like based upon the same Shroud, I am more thankful than ever for the countless generations of Catholics — “those who have not seen and yet believe” — who maintained the Faith,” former White House speechwriter Joshua Charles wrote.
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29).
With the recent news validating the Shroud of Turin, and the AI-developed image of what Our Lord looked like based upon the same Shroud, I am more thankful than ever… pic.twitter.com/m8IpXXSWuw
— Joshua Charles (@JoshuaTCharles) August 22, 2024
Shroud researcher Nora Creech told LifeSite she was happy to see that the AI image “recreates the shoulders of the man of the Shroud — which were lost when the Shroud was damaged by a fire in 1532.”
“I think the AI image is very beautiful and helps to provide a representation of the true appearance of the man of the Shroud,” she wrote in an email comment. “The image captures the peace, dignity, and majesty of the face — despite the brutal torture that has been inflicted on the man,” Creech noted, adding:
However, the important thing to remember is that we are called to seek the face of God through His Word and in the Sacraments. The Shroud is a gift to our generation, but in the words of Saint Pope John Paul II, “the Shroud does not hold people’s hearts to itself, but turns them to him, at whose service the Father’s loving providence has put it.” In other words, an AI image might help us to contemplate how Jesus appeared in his human form, but that is just a starting point.
In the Scriptures, we are called over and over again to Seek God – this means to be in his presence, to truly encounter him through His Word and the Sacraments, and to live our lives in service to him.
If this AI image will help people move closer to encounter and relationship with the living person of Jesus Christ, that is wonderful. It just cannot be an end in itself, but the beginning an amazing journey.
Some Catholics have pointed out the similarities between the AI image and ancient icons of Christ, most notably the Byzantine icon of Christ the Pantokrator, dating from the sixth century.
Notwithstanding the moderate debate over the suitability of the AI image of Christ, the details surrounding the Shroud of Turin have unquestionably been thrust well and truly into the public sphere this week, albeit due to sloppy attention to details by the Daily Mail with regards a two-year old study.
Critics of the Shroud have long argued that it is a medieval forgery rather than the burial cloth of Christ as millions of Catholics believe. Faulty Carbon-14 dating has bolstered critics in this view, as a 1988 dating process placed the cloth between 1260 and 1390. However, Dr. de Caro’s study highlighted this week by the Daily Mail rejected such a suggested date, concluding the cloth is “compatible with the hypothesis that the Turin Shroud is a 2,000-year-old relic.”
Scripture also describes how Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body of Jesus in a linen cloth after he died and placed him in a tomb: “And Joseph taking the body, wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth. And laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out in a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the monument and went his way.” (Matthew 27:59-60)