German Vaticanist Paul Badde, looking at the original of the image of the Holy Face of Manoppello.
Badde passed away on November 10, one week ago, in Manoppello, Italy, at the age of 77 after a long illness. He left behind his wife, Ellen, five children, and nine grandchildren
Below, photos from his funeral, held on Saturday, November 17, two days ago… followed by images of the Holy Veil of Manoppello, an image Paul studied for 20 years, writing an important book about it (link)
The casket carrying the body of Paul Badde is brought into the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy, on Saturday morning, November 17, 2025, two days ago. Paul’s eldest daughter Mia, his wife Ellen, and his son, Joseph, are the first following… American Catholic Vaticanist Joan Lewis, 85, of EWTN, also made the long trip from Rome — almost 3 hours — to attend Paul’s funeral. Paul was a regular contributor to EWTN…
The coffin was set in front of the altar, below the image of the Holy Face, which is displayed above the main altar.
On the coffin was a picture of Paul looking at the Holy Face, an image he studied for 20 years.
He was persuaded it shows the actual face of Jesus Christ.
A wreath of funeral flowers. The words are “Auf wiedersehen im Himmel” and mean “Until we see each other again in heaven”…
Another photo of the place of Paul’s burial, which is directly against the foundation wall of the church itself, in the back center of this photo.
Paul, born in Germany, became officially a citizen of Manoppello by special decree just four weeks ago, allowing his body to be buried here
Two German nuns who have spent many years studying and living near the Holy Face, Sister Mary Peter and Sister Blandina Paschalis Schlömer, a German hermit who studied the measurements of the face on the Holy Veil of Manoppello (link). She is known for her research showing the Manoppello image is identical in size to the Shroud of Turin, but with the face of a living man, unlike the dead face on the Shroud. The two nuns greeted each other near the car which would take Paul Badde’s casket to its place of burial nearby. Many friends of Paul placed their hands for a moment on his coffin to say a final farewell, before the coffin was taken to the burial site
Raffaela Pallin, an Austrian theologian, praying during the funeral Mass in the shrine
I also paid my final respects to Paul in the moments before his burial
Letter #73, 2025, Mon, November 17: Pilgrim’s end
Paul Badde, a colleague and friend, died a week ago on Monday, November 10, at the age of 77.
So ended his earthly pilgrimage, which took him from Germany, to Jerusalem, to Rome, to Manoppello.
He was buried on Saturday, November 17, following a solemn Mass in Manoppello, Italy, at the Shrine of the Holy Face, celebrated by Archbishop Bruno Forte, 76, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto since 2004.
***
Paul thought the image of the Holy Face was made out of “light,” and was the actual face of Jesus, created at the moment of Jesus’ resurrection in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago.
Paul wrote a popular book about the veil, The Holy Veil of Manoppello: The Human Face of God (link), arguing for its authenticity.
A month ago, Paul, already suffering from a grave illness, moved from his Rome Vatican apartment to Manoppello, where some years ago he had purchased a little home. There he was planning to live with his wife, Ellen, and to visit the shrine each day, to gaze on the face contained on the gossamer-thin silk of the veil he had studied so long and written about with such passion.
“It’s Him, Bob,” Paul often said to me about the image on the veil. “It’s Him.”
A month after his transfer from Rome, Paul’s already fragile health took a turn for the worse, and he died early in the morning of November 10.
Paul’s body of work will remain: 20 years of reports on life in Jerusalem and more than 20 years of reports on life in and around the Vatican, in Rome.
I write this letter from Istanbul, Turkey.
Pope Leo will visit Turkey and Lebanon in 10 days time.
—RM
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Pope Benedict XVI’s Prayer to the Holy Face (Manoppello)
Lord Jesus,
As the first apostles,
Whom you asked: “What do you seek?”,
Accepted your invitation to: “Come and see,”
Recognizing you as the Son of God,
The Promised Messiah for the world’s redemption,
We too, your disciples in this difficult time
Want to follow you and be your friends,
Drawn by the brilliance of your face much desired yet hidden.
Show us, we pray you, your face ever new,
That mirror, mystery laden, of God’s infinite mercy.
Grant that we may contemplate it
With the eyes of our mind and our hearts:
The Son’s face, radiance of the Father’s glory
And the imprint of his Nature (cf. Hebrews 1,3),
The human face of God that has burst into history
To reveal the horizons of eternity.
The silent face of Jesus suffering and risen,
When loved and accepted changes the heart and life.
“Your face, Lord, do I seek,
Do not hide your face from me” (Psalm 27, 8ff).
How many times through the centuries and millenia has not resounded
The ardent invocation of the Psalmist among the faithful!
Lord, with faith, we too repeat the same invocation:
“Man of suffering, as one from whom others hide their faces” (Isaiah 53, 3),
Do not hide your face from us!
We want to draw from your eyes,
That look on us with tenderness and compassion.
The force of love and peace which shows us the way of life,
And the courage to follow you without fear or compromise,
So as to be witnesses of your Gospel,
With concrete signs of acceptance, love and forgiveness.
O Holy Face of Christ,
Light that enlightens the darkness of doubt and sadness,
Life that has defeated forever the force of evil and death,
O inscrutable gaze
That never ceases to watch over men and people,
Face concealed in the Eucharistic signs
And in the faces of those that live with us,
Make us God’s pilgrims in this world,
Longing for the Infinite and ready for the final encounter,
When we shall see you, Lord, “face to face”(1 Cor. 13, 12),
And be able to contemplate you forever in heavenly Glory.
Mary, Mother of the Holy Face,
Help us have “hands innocent and a heart pure,”
Hands illumined by the truth of love
And hearts enraptured by divine beauty,
That transformed by the encounter with Christ,
We may gift ourselves to the poor and the suffering,
Whose faces reflect the hidden presence
Of your Son Jesus,
Who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen!
—Pope Benedict XVI, Rome, September 1st 2007
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