The Face of God: The Rediscovery of the True Face of Jesus | by Paul Badde | Ignatius Press | paperback | 350 pages

Best-selling journalist, historian and author Paul Badde embarks on an exciting quest to discover the truth behind the Holy Face of Manoppello, a relic recently rediscovered and rumored to be the veil of Veronica. Vatican correspondent for German newspaper Die Welt, journalist Paul Badde was intrigued when he heard of a mysterious image in a remote Italian village--an image of a man's face on byssus cloth. Byssus, or sea silk, is a rare and delicate fabric woven from a silky filament produced by mollusks. It is claimed that the fabric is so thin and delicate that it is impossible to paint on--yet the image in Manoppello is clearly visible and, moreover, when laid over the image of the face on the Shroud of Turin forms a perfect match. Experts determined that the cloth of Manoppello is not Veronica's veil, but rather the face cloth layed over the face of Jesus in the tomb. Unlike the Shroud of Turin, which is a negative of the image, the image on the face cloth is a positive of the face of Christ. Paul Badde takes the reader along on a thrilling journey of discovery as he travels to research this remarkable relic, tracing the turbulent history of the Holy Face from ancient times up to the historic 2006 visit to Manoppello by Pope Benedict XVI. Illustrated with 16 pages of color photos.

Praise for The Face of God

"The results are almost beyond our imagination."— Bild

"Paul Badde had written a gripping cultural thriller." —Der Spiegel

"Paul Badde has applied his keen journalistic eye and energetic writing style to one of the most fascinating phenomena of our times, the rediscovery of a marvel and a grace for an unbelieving age. The story of the Face of Christ in the mysterious image of Manoppello is an enthralling work, the fruit of painstaking research and scholarship. It reads like a detective story, an archaeologist's journal, and an adventure tale that is - most thrilling of all - no mere fiction. The Face of Manoppello may well prove to be of equal importance with the Shroud of Turin." — Michael O'Brien, Author, Father Elijah

"The Face of God<span> is an exciting, incredible detective story spanning twenty centuries. The suspect is nothing less than the greatest art treasure in the universe, but not made by human hands: the literal face of Jesus Christ. The Manoppello cloth is a standing miracle, equal to the Shroud of Turin and the tilma of Guadalupe, and equally open to scientific investigation and unrefuted by it. If I were an atheist, I would not be able to sleep until I had exposed everything in this book as a scam." — Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, Boston College

About the Author

Paul Badde, born in 1948, is an historian and journalist. Since 2000 he has been an editor of the German newspaper Welt, first as the Jerusalem correspondent and now as The Vatican correspondent in Rome. He is also the author of two books: Jerusalem, Jerusalem andThe Heavenly City. He achieved world-wide fame with his publication of Zvi Kalitz's Jossel Rakover's Return to God, which he rediscovered, translated, and edited.