THE mystery of Jesus Christ’s “fatal injury” on the cross could finally be solved, according to a new analysis.

Doctor-turned-priest Patrick Pullicino, based in London, put forward his theory in an article for the Catholic Medical Quarterly. 

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The Rev Prof Pullicino believes Jesus may have ultimately been killed by complications from being stretched on the cross and a spear wound in his shoulder.

He also believes he can explain why the Gospel of John says “blood and water” poured from Christ’s crucified body.

The Bible details how Jesus fell while being forced to carry his cross to Calvary before a Roman soldier pierced his side with a spear.

Scholars believe Jesus very likely dislocated his right shoulder when he fell, burdened by the weight of the wooden cross.

St Bernard of Clairvaux, according to pious legend, asked Jesus which was the greatest unrecorded suffering of his Passion.

Jesus is said to have replied: “I had on my shoulder, while I bore my cross on the way of sorrows, a grievous wound that was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men.”

The Rev Prof Pullicino set out his theories after analysing work carried out by forensic and medical experts on the Shroud of Turin, which Jesus is said to have been wrapped in after his crucifixion.

The shroud, which has been preserved since 1578 in the royal chapel of the cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy, is highly controversial.

Believers say it bears the faint image of a man whose body appears to have nail wounds to the feet and wrists and is a physical link to Jesus of Nazareth.

Doubters though think it is little more an elaborate forgery.

Radiocarbon tests on samples of the shroud, carried out in 1988, linked the cloth to the Middle Ages, sometime between 1260 and 1390.

However studies in the 2010s questioned this claim, saying the linen sheet dated from the time of Jesus.

Investigating the shroud, the Rev Prof Pullicino said the position of the man’s dislocated shoulder was significant.

He said it was pulled so far out of its socket, the right hand stretched four inches (10cm) lower than the left.

Rev Prof Pullicino believes that when Jesus was stretched out for crucifixion it would have caused the subclavian artery – a pair of large arteries in the thorax that pump blood to the head, neck, shoulder and arms – to rupture.

He said this would, in turn, cause a massive amount of internal bleeding, ultimately leading to a person’s death.

In addition, he estimated around three pints of blood would fill the cavity between the ribcage and the lung, which he says explains why blood spurted out when he was stabbed by the Roman soldier’s spear.

The water, Rev Prof Pullicino said, was most likely cerebrospinal fluid, which has a translucent appearance.

“Because of this right arm stretching, the right subclavian/axillary artery was also subjected to stretch, as it was one of the only remaining intact structures connecting the body and the right arm,” he said, the Telegraph reports.

“Transferring of body weight to the arms in inspiration is likely to have caused further stretching of the right subclavian artery. Transferring weight to the legs in exhalation would reverse this stretch.