One of Benedict XVI's last acts as pope, according to Vatican Radio, was to authorize the broadcast of video of the shroud from Turin Cathedral, where the mysterious Christian relic is kept, out of sight, in a bulletproof, climate-controlled glass case.
While the Republican-led House has voted to repeal the law, that effort is expected to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and in any case would face President Obama's veto pen.
The book, which has been exhibited overseas on only three previous occasions, is normally kept on show in carefully-controlled conditions in a specially-built case in the Trinity College library.