Fallen-away Catholic podcaster Joe Rogan called a presentation on the Shroud of Turin a ‘pretty fascinating deep dive,’ prompting a wave of support from Catholics online.
(LifeSiteNews) -- Joe Rogan has Christians on social media abuzz after he shared a video on his X account this week about the Shroud of Turin, the burial cloth of Our Lord.
On Monday, Rogan called a 48-minute-long presentation on the topic by Dr. John Campbell a “pretty fascinating deep dive” into the shroud.
LifeSiteNews geopolitical analyst Frank Wright wrote about Campbell’s video when it was released last fall.
Wright notes that Campbell is a British doctor who was critical of the COVID-19 shots and supported the use of ivermectin to treat the virus. In his video on the shroud, he uses multiple research tools to show that the image of Our Lord is only “nanometers thick” and that attempts to recreate it with modern technology have failed.
“Even now, in 2024, there are no chemical or physical methods known which can account for the image,” Campbell notes.
Rogan’s X post comes two months after he hosted Traditional Catholic movie director Mel Gibson on his podcast. One of the topics they discussed was the historical reality of Christ’s existence and His Resurrection, which Rogan has expressed doubts about previously.
Gibson explained to Rogan that the shroud could not have been faked.
“An intense light – I mean, atomic (light)” left a “photographic imprint,” Gibson said. “The pollens that they found in the cloth were from that region, also, the weave (of the cloth) was a first-century weave.”
Gibson also told Rogan that the hairstyle of the image of the man on the shroud was of a Hebrew from the first century and that he was about six-feet tall and had scourges on his body, which had been crucified.
Rogan is a fallen away Catholic and has not been shy about expressing disdain for the Church, especially abusive clergy, over the past several decades. At the same time, he has had guests on his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast to discuss Christianity, though he often maintains a level of skepticism toward their statements.
His praise of the shroud therefore elicited a massive outpouring of supportive statements on X encouraging him to continue to study Christianity.
“Joe, when are you becoming Catholic?” said one user.
“Keep digging brother!” said another.
An excited Jack Posobiec, a Catholic conservative influencer, likewise said, “SHROUDMAXXING HAS FULLY COMMENCED.”
Posobiec’s brother Kevin shared information about the cloth that was put over Christ’s face, the Sudarium of Oviedo.
In January, the “Rosary in a Year” podcast by Ascension Press topped Apple’s charts for the first three days of 2025, outranking Rogan’s podcast, which has long-dominated podcast charts, indicating a surge of interest in Catholic spirituality. At present, Rogan is the number four podcast in the list.
