Italian police use software to reconstruct Jesus' face

Italian police use software to reconstruct Jesus' face

Associated Press

Rome, December 23, 2004

Italian police investigators used forensic software to analyze the shroud of Turin and make a digital portrait of Jesus as he might have looked at age 12, a report said Thursday.

The portrait, printed in Corriere della Sera newspaper, shows a wavy-haired boy with large, dark eyes. The reconstruction was based on the shroud kept in the northern Italian city of Turin, which bears an image of Christ's face. Many believe it was his burial cloth.

To make the digital image, police used a program generally employed for "aging" photos of criminals who have been longtime fugitives from justice, the newspaper said.
In this case, they made the shroud's image look younger, showing how Jesus might have looked at age 12, when he went missing in Jerusalem and was later discovered speaking with religious teachers at a temple, according to the New Testament. Very little is known about Jesus at the time of that famous episode.

"We made a rigorous effort based on the shroud of Turin, but it's clear that the data at our disposal were limited," said police official Carlo Bui, quoted by Corriere. "Let's say we have made an excellent hypothesis."

Bui said police also used historical data and other ancient images to make the portrait, but he did not elaborate. His office did not return calls seeking comment.