TURIN, Italy — The Roman Catholic Church is weathering another sex scandal, but it is impossible to tell here, where the faint image of a bearded man on a yellowing linen sheet provides the moment, if brief, for pilgrims to declare and reaffirm their faith. For some, it does not matter if the Shroud of Turin is authentic. It is the shared spiritual experience that counts most.

“You can counteract with gestures what’s happening in the church,” said Davide Donato, 23, an architecture student who took an overnight train from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy to see the shroud on Thursday. That night he was taking an overnight train back. “These gestures affirm what you believe in, what that basis of faith is.”

Ten years after the shroud last went on display, nearly two million people have made reservations for a timed glimpse of the religious object (five minutes on weekdays, three on weekends, depending on the bookings, though the labyrinthine line can take well over an hour).

For most of them, the bearded man is Jesus Christ and the 14-foot-3-inch by 3-foot-7-inch linen cloth now encased in a bulletproof frame is his burial shroud. It is one of the most venerated — and contentious — relics of Christendom.