Anastasio Ballestrero

Shroud of Turin He placed the Shroud of Turin - in 1978 - on exhibit for the first time in four decades. One of those pilgrims who visited the shroud during this exhibit would be the future Pope John Paul II, who visited just six weeks prior to his election. Ballestrero would later host the pope in Turin in 1980 with the pope coming to venerate the relic. Once technical improvements made it possible to use samples the size of postage stamps the cardinal permitted samples to be cut in April 1988 which he himself supervised to ensure it was carried out in an appropriate manner. These would be tested in three labs in Oxford, Zürich and Arizona.

Following the radiocarbon dating tests the cardinal announced on 13 October 1988 that the shroud was dated from the Middle Ages and thus not the actual burial cloth of Christ (he said the findings were 95% accurate); although these tests were later believed to be invalid due to erroneous sampling.