For the first time in three centuries, the Vatican exposes the marble staircase that Jesus mounted during his trial

Every day, many faithful kneel and immerse themselves in the silence of the prayer of the "sacred stairs" of Rome, 28 marble steps that, according to tradition, raised Jesus Christ to judgment and that since this Thursday, For the first time in three centuries, they are presented without the wood that protected them.

"For sixty days we can walk with our knees and touch the marble on which Jesus walked himself in the Praetorian palace where he was judged by Pontius Pilate," said Father Francesco Guerra, rector of the Pontifical Shrine of the " Holy stairs ".

The marble staircase has been restored over the past two years, revealing some of its best kept secrets. He was blessed by Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Angelo De Donatis, who sprinkled holy water with a hyssop.

The steps are located in a building that is near but independent of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome and one of the most visited places of pilgrimage in the city.

According to an ancient tradition, Jesus would have borrowed this staircase from the Praetorian palace in Jerusalem, where he would have been sentenced to death and would have been transferred to Rome in 326 AD on the order of St. Helena, mother of the same name. Emperor Constantine., which in 313, by virtue of the edict of Milan, legalized Christianity and made it the official religion of the Empire after centuries of persecution.

A story that "remains under the veil of tradition", as recognized by Paolo Violini, restorer of the Vatican Museums, who is responsible for cleaning this relic.

At first, the staircase was in a portico outside the Lateranense Palace, seat of the Pope before the Vatican, but It was Sixte V who, in 1589, ordered to build a specific building to house it because of its veneration already widespread.

It is composed of twenty-eight white marble steps leading to "Sancta Sanctorum", a small chapel where the pontiffs were gathered in prayer until the Middle Ages, extremely rich in relics and visible only through a thick gate.

There is no Catholic pilgrim who does not go through the "sacred Scala" during his trip to Rome and many are daily fulfilling the tradition of raising him on his knees to obtain in return the indulgence of his sins.

But from today and for the next 60 daysuntil Pentecost, they can also do this by walking on the original marble, because the slats of walnut that covered and protected since 1723, on the orders of Pope Innocent XIII, were removed. to be restored.

His discovery aroused great interest among the faithful, who pressed to the doors of the building to be the first to touch the marble, with plastic bags on the feet to avoid stains, especially on this rainy day. in Rome.

By removing the planks that protected these steps, fascinating secrets were revealed, such as the presence of three crosses on which Christ's droplets of blood are thought to have fallen: one in bronze on the last step, another in red marble in the first and another in the Eleventh, where they say that Jesus stumbled and broke the stone.

But it also uncovered a huge amount of coins, bills, and letters with prayers, fears, desires, and concerns that the faithful have been straining for years through the cracks in the woods. 39; subject of adequate study, said the director of the Vatican Museums. Barbara Jatta.

What draws the most attention from this staircase is precisely the form that marble has acquired, distorted by the pbadage of thousands and thousands of faithful during its unpublished history, to the point that the stone of some bars is perforated.

The restoration of the "sacred stairs" and the wood that covered it is only part of a much larger project to improve the whole complex launched since 2000 to clean it, especially its rich frescoes damaged and even cracked. .

In particular, the pictorial cycles of the walls and vault that delineate the staircase, which for centuries has been the "biblical pauperum", the book of the poor, have been clearly arranged, illustrating the illiterate faithful of the various biblical pbadages. .

These works also revealed other surprises such as many graffiti, paintings canceled by the desire of a pontiff and even a scribble with which one of the painters who decorated the building left his improvised portrait to posterity.

By Gonzalo Sánchez (EFE)