Rome, Italy - Pope Benedict became the first pontiff on Friday to visit "Veronica's Veil", which Christian tradition says was used to wipe the sweat from Jesus' brow on his way to crucifixion and miraculously recorded his features.
Benedict knelt in prayer before the relic also known as the "Sacred Visage", which has been guarded by Capuchin friars in a remote monastery in Manoppello in the Apennine mountains for centuries.
But the pope stopped short of endorsing the veil, venerated since the Middle Ages, as the true face of Christ.
"Together we seek to know the face of our Lord and in it find a path for our lives," the German-born pope told priests and pilgrims after viewing the relic, housed in a heavy frame adorned with gold and silver above the altar.
The fragile cloth depicts very clearly, in blood-red hues, a bearded man bearing a striking resemblance to a more famous relic, the Turin Shroud in northern Italy, which is revered by some Christians as the cloth used to wrap Christ's body.
Measuring 17 by 24 centimeters (6.8 by 9.6 inches), legend says it was used by a woman called Veronica to wipe Jesus's face as he bore his heavy cross through Jerusalem to his place of execution by the Romans on Golgotha, the Place of the Skull.
The cloth is said to have healing properties and in medieval times it was considered miraculous that the visage of Christ is only visible from certain angles.
Its origins are uncertain. Veronica is mentioned not in the Bible but in an apocryphal version of the life of Christ called the Acts of Pilate. It has been revered by pilgrims in Italy at least since the 12th century.
Housed in the Vatican until 1608 and mentioned in Dante's poem the "Divine Comedy", it disappeared during building works. One legend says a soldier's wife sold it to get her husband out of jail to a nobleman, who donated it to the Capuchins.
German Jesuit Heinrich Pfeiffer concluded after 13 years of studies that it was genuine. Another scholar examined it under ultraviolet light and found the fibers had not been painted. But critics say it is too much of a coincidence that "Veronica" is a deformation of Green and Latin words mean "true image".
The pope's visit -- the first by a head of the Catholic church -- will add to the popularity of the relic, which is already visited by hundreds of pilgrims every week.
Benedict, who succeeded the late John Paul last year, arrived by helicopter to be greeted by thousands of pilgrims with cries of "Benedetto!" and "Long Live the Pope!"
One of the Capuchin friars gave him a reproduction of the veil in a jeweled golden frame and knelt to kiss his ring.
Calling the visit "an historical event", Friar Emiliano told Reuters TV earlier this week that the pope, "like many pilgrims, comes not so much to see Christ's face on Veronica's Veil but to be seen by it, to be loved by the eyes of the Lord".
Pilgrims visiting the shrine are surprised by the clarity of the image which is supposedly over 2,000 years old.
"I can't explain how the face of Christ remained so visible after all this time," said Italian pilgrim Silvana Fiorelli, adding that it filled her with a sense of "wonder".