Desperate to change the subject from the rampant rape of children (and fairly common rape of adult women) by his clergy, Vatican Dictator Joseph Ratzinger paid a visit to the infamous Shroud of Turin. Ratzi went on to make a complete ass of himself. (Independent 5/4/10)

The shroud of Turin allowed Pope Benedict XVI a rare moment of reprieve from the raging clerical child sex scandal yesterday as he prayed before the relic after performing open air Mass with some 25,000 faithful in the Italian city. "The Holy Shroud eloquently reminds us always of the one who was crucified and who has shared our suffering," the pontiff said.

Last year, an Italian scientist recreated the Shroud of Turin. (Reuters 10/5/09 - Hat Tip to Pharyngula)

Garlaschelli reproduced the full-sized shroud using materials and techniques that were available in the middle ages.

They placed a linen sheet flat over a volunteer and then rubbed it with a pigment containing traces of acid. A mask was used for the face.

PIGMENT, BLOODSTAINS AND SCORCHES

The pigment was then artificially aged by heating the cloth in an oven and washing it, a process which removed it from the surface but left a fuzzy, half-tone image similar to that on the Shroud. He believes the pigment on the original Shroud faded naturally over the centuries.

They then added blood stains, burn holes, scorches and water stains to achieve the final effect.

The Shroud had already been proven as fake by carbon dating that placed it in the 13th or 14th century. Now that scientists have shown how it was made, the last excuse by the RCC relic industry, that it couldn't have been made by medieval people, has been disproven.

2 million easy marks are expected to visit this fraud.

It's not just that the Shroud is fake. The fact that Ratzi knows it's a fake and stages a greedy dog and pony show with it demonstrates how dishonest he is. (It's a bit late for him to need to display how completely amoral he is.) Ratzi's worship of a fake relic also makes you wonder how fake all of his supposed concern is over the unending revelations of Roman Catholic clerical rape.