Mysteries of the Faith

I had a meeting in Montmartre.

A friend who works near the cathedral sent me photos.

I was amazed.

I couldn't believe it.

So I went to Sacré-Coeur where you can see all of Paris.

I felt like I was in a movie.

A disaster movie, an American movie.

I was filled with tears, shivers.

There was something very violent about it.

The Crown of Thorns is the first thing we thought of.

It really is the treasure of Notre-Dame.

It touched Christ.

It was thrust onto his head.

It bears the prayers of all the people

who have come for 2,000 years to encounter this crown.

It was essential to save it.

For thousands of years,

people of many faiths have worshipped relics.

But for Catholics, they have a unique resonance.

And millions of believers pin their hopes and prayers

on these mysterious objects.

Why are they so powerful?

A relic is like a rocket.

It's a heart opening.

Suddenly you float, and then you're taken to God.

Can these fragments from the distant past perform miracles?

Being close to death, being here and talking about it, is a lot.

The history of relics has, for millennia,

been shrouded in mystery.

But now, for the first time,

the Vatican has granted us access to tell their stories.

What can they reveal about the power of belief?

It's as if the Holy Spirit came down and touched you.

It changed my life.

I think that it is indeed a grace

to be present,

to be there to protect,

because you never know what could happen.

We are the guardians.

We are ready to do what is necessary...

to protect this priceless relic.

Away from the busy city streets,

hundreds of faithful wait in reverent silence

for a rare and remarkable moment.

Brought out from its secret vault

is the most iconic relic of all.

The Crown of Thorns.

It is one of the most important relics of Christ.

It's one of the relics of the Passion, so it's something magnificent.

It's extremely important for the history of the church,

for the history of our country and for popular devotion.

Believed to retain miraculous powers,

perhaps the greatest miracle of all

is the Crown of Thorns' own story of survival.

For thousands of years, this precious relic

has been fiercely protected by emperors, kings,

and now, the faithful of the world.

We are the safe keepers of this very profound testimony of love.

It is priceless.

The crown is so valuable

that when in public,

it's guarded at all times by security agents

and 12 knights from an ancient, noble order.

The knights of the Equestrian Order

of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

are men and women who have decided

to help ensure the protection of the holy relics

and in France, take part in the guarding of the Holy Crown of Thorns.

My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather

were knights themselves.

The Crown of Thorns is the symbol

of this king who gave up everything for us.

It's absolutely overwhelming.

You can only be touched to the core of yourself.

God saved us.

Amen.

The story of this relic

begins 2,000 years ago

on a hill outside Jerusalem.

Roman soldiers twist together thorny twigs

into the shape of a crown.

They roughly press it onto the head of their prisoner,

calling him King of the Jews.

They force him to the top of a hill,

nail him to a wooden cross,

and leave the condemned man, Jesus Christ, to die.

What happened that day and in the days that followed,

changed the course of history.

But it's not just the story of that day that has endured.

Passion relics are objects associated with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

They are the relics that give you a direct line to that sacrifice

that people believe that he made for their sins.

When you're in close proximity to one of these relics,

there is a sense, as close as you can,

you are connecting in person to Jesus.

So this could be the shroud that he was wrapped in,

or it could be the Holy Grail, or it could be the Crown of Thorns.

The Crown of Thorns was used to humiliate Jesus.

It was an impromptu creation by the Romans,

used to mock Jesus.

And so, to preserve that

and turn it into something that's used to honor Christ,

those are the kind of symbols that last.

But how did this thorny crown

that might once have pierced Jesus' head

come to be displayed 2,000 years later

and 2,000 miles away in Paris?

The last known reference to the Crown of Thorns being worshipped

or venerated in Jerusalem actually dates to around 870.

But then the record goes dark.

The next reference to the Crown of Thorns appears in the 10th century

in Constantinople, which, of course, today is Istanbul,

in the private chapel of the emperor.

The treasured crown is kept locked away.

But every Easter, it is put on display for the public.

Pilgrims who have journeyed hundreds of miles

just to gaze upon the crown of Jesus

are astonished to see the precious relic wither, die,

and then come back to life in front of their eyes.

They return home with their tale of the miraculous crown,

which died and was resurrected like Jesus.

Relics are like beacons for pilgrimages.

They are sacred spots and dots that call to people,

that were so powerful,

it was thought that they had a kind of radioactivity.

The attraction of relics for a lot of pilgrims is that

you can get, basically, a quick access to God.

If you are suffering,

if you have something that you desperately need,

even if you have a question,

going to a relic will channel that divine power into you.

Millions of people go on pilgrimages

in order to venerate these relics,

because they believe that their lives will be changed.

This is why pilgrimages have been happening for thousands of years

and still continue to happen today.

What a view.

- The scenery changes all the time. - Yes.

The pilgrimage is a journey with intention, with purpose.

There are different kinds of pilgrims.

There are the people who just want a new kind of travel experience,

and then there's those times in life when you come to a crossroads,

you don't know which way to turn,

you want to find a new inner direction.

And those are the moments when people make long pilgrimages.

Pilgrims from all over the world

are drawn to Spain each year,

traveling 300 miles across the country,

from the Pyrenean mountains in the north

to the Mediterranean city of Valencia,

retracing what they believe

to be the route traveled by the most contentious

and coveted relic of all...

The Holy Grail.

The part that I like most about this

is the part of following something

that happened more than 2,000 years ago.

And that the possibility of following that route exists,

it seems incredible to me.

Pilgrimage, for a lot of people,

is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,

and for other people, it is a regular part of their practice as believers.

This is my third pilgrimage, but not the last one.

I'm doing the pilgrimage of the Santo Grial,

first of all, to help myself to grow as a person.

You get into a quiet space, very close to the meditation.

Living here and now, which is very difficult in normal life.

Second, and no less important,

when you discover the power of the Holy Grail,

which is the most wanted in the history,

it's like, "Wow."

The Holy Grail is so important to so many believers.

It is the most direct connection to Jesus.

It is believed to be

the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper,

but it holds this very important place, and not just Christian theology,

but in Christian lore and storytelling.

And that has imbued it with a certain kind of power.

We are at an iconic point on the The Path of the Holy Grail

at the Castle of Loarre.

And why is it important, this point?

Because here it is said that there were warrior monks

who protected the Grail for a long time.

Let's go.

Wow.

In the medieval times,

some people thought that the Grail was the source of youth

and the eternal life.

But I think the Grail means love.

This was the cup that Jesus Christ had in his hand in the Last Supper

with the beautiful message of "love each other as yourself."

Alex? Are you seeing a grail there?

Yes, yes.

Totally.

And these must be the monks protecting the Grail.

This is amazing.

It's a great indication that the chalice was here

and they've made a carving

to just leave a footprint.

Wow.