Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 213
the cross. News media in Turin and Rome picked the story up and sent it out over the global wire service. The Vatican quickly denied the charges and the story seemed to die down. On July 28th, forty days after the secret study had been completed, Berna showed up at the Vatican gates with a briefcase full of documents and a photographer. Monsignor Charles Moeller, Under Secretary of the Vatican's chief agency concerning doctrine, invited Berna inside the complex, but when he was photographed accepting Berna's documents, the story went around the world. United Press International headed its story: The President of the Foundation for the Holy Shroud in Switzerland submitted documents to the Vatican which he said prove that Christ was alive when he was removed from the cross. This contradicts the belief of the Roman Catholic Church. It would mean that Christ recovered from wounds and did not rise from death itself. There was no comment from the Vatican. The Associated Press story had the same tone and substance: A German author who contends Jesus Christ did not die on the cross has challenged the Vatican to re-examine the Shroud believed to have wrapped Christ's body. The leading paragraph said: Kurt Berna, author of four books on the Shroud, says the bloodstains on the cloth prove Christ was still alive when taken down from the cross. He went to the Vatican yesterday and gave a 20 page pamphlet containing photographs and documentations to Monsignor Charles Moeller. The Vatican made no immediate comment. Again the story seemed to die down, at least for five months. Then in December 1969 Berna got another tip from a source he refused to identify; a high Vatican official was reputed to have said that the Holy Church cannot be split and teach that our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to free us from our sins, and at the 205