The Shroud Codex - Jerome R. Corsi [70]
The archbishop introduced the psychiatrist, allowing Dr. Castle to make a short introductory statement.
“Father Bartholomew was admitted to Beth Israel last Sunday under my care,” Castle told the press. “There has been much speculation that Father Bartholomew’s wounds are the wounds suffered by Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. There also has been some speculation that Father Bartholomew’s wounds closely resemble the wounds displayed by the man in the Shroud of Turin. At this point, I can confirm neither.”
“Is this what the Vatican thinks?” A reporter had interrupted, determined to ask the first question of Father Morelli.
“The Vatican is working with Archbishop Duncan and Dr. Castle,” Morelli affirmed. “The Vatican has come to no conclusions.”
“It sounds like the Catholic Church is stonewalling,” Fernando Ferrar told Archbishop Duncan aggressively. “Why has the Vatican not responded to the questions from the news media about whether Father Bartholomew is manifesting the wounds that scholars like Dr. Whitehouse at Columbia see in the Shroud of Turin? Why have you waited until now to make a statement to the public?”
“If we were stonewalling, we wouldn’t be giving this press conference,” Duncan said firmly. “The Church is first and foremost concerned about Father Bartholomew’s health. I can assure you that the Church is taking seriously all questions about Father Bartholomew, including questions that concern the Shroud of Turin. We will update you as soon as we have something more definitive to say. Right now, we would only ask the people who are coming to St. Patrick’s Cathedral or Beth Israel Hospital to stay home. My office is working with the mayor and the New York Police Department to control crowds and make sure the streets of the city remain passable. Father Bartholomew appreciates your prayers, but he asks you to stay home and pray, for the safety of everybody involved.”
“Does the archdiocese believe Father Bartholomew is Jesus Christ?” Ferrar asked in a follow-up question.
“The archdiocese and the Vatican have reached no conclusions about what is happening to Father Bartholomew. We are working with Dr. Castle and we will notify the public once we have anything more definitive to say.”
Ferrar persisted. “Dr. Castle is a psychiatrist. Does that mean the Catholic Church thinks Father Bartholomew is crazy?”
“Again, we have no comment,” Archbishop Duncan said resolutely.
Fernando Ferrar was rapidly becoming an international press celebrity, as his television news reports about Father Bartholomew were rebroadcast around the world—in Italy by RAI, by Univision and Telemundo to the Spanish world in North America, and by countless other networks in dozens of different languages.
Rather than put the controversy regarding Father Bartholomew to rest, the press conference only fueled speculation and interest in the case.
That evening, the crowd in vigil outside Beth Israel grew to well over a thousand people.
Within twenty-four hours of Father Bartholomew’s appearance in the window of his hospital room, over ten million viewers had viewed Ferrar’s broadcasts on YouTube.
The next morning, the New York tabloids hit the newsstands with top headlines that read SECOND COMING—IS JESUS IN NEW YORK CITY? and BURIAL SHROUD OF CHRIST COMES TO LIFE IN NEW YORK PRIEST? The front pages of both newspapers carried photographs of Father Bartholomew at the hospital window and the Shroud of Turin.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Thursday night
Dr. Stephen Castle’s apartment, New York City
12:00 A.M. ET in New York City, 6:00 A.M. Friday morning in Rome
Days 15–16
Gabrielli telephoned Castle from Bologna. “I think I am very close to reproducing the Shroud using only materials and methods that were known in the thirteenth century. If I succeed, this will be the crowning achievement of my career.”
“How did you do it?” Castle asked.
“I have been experimenting with red ochre, a form of iron oxide that was a common paint at the time the Shroud was forged, and with