NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      TURIN, Italy (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Anastiaso Ballestrero, the retired archbishop of Turin, died on Sunday at the age of 84, the Vatican press office announced on Monday.

      The cardinal served as archbishop of Turin from 1977 to 1991, and was thus the custodian of the Shroud of Turin during that time. He made the public announcement in 1988 that scientific testing had determined that the cloth, believed to be the burial shroud of Christ, was really a medieval artifact. That conclusion has been cast into doubt by other scientists who claim the original tests were flawed.

      Cardinal Ballestrero was ordained in 1936, was president of the Italian bishops' conference from 1979 to 1985, and had been elevated to the cardinalate by Pope John Paul II in 1979.