Paola Bargigli is a native Roman and a second-generation tour guide. She’s handled hundreds of city tours of her hometown’s famous and historical landmarks since she became an official guide in 1989 and she notes a difference. On some tours the questions are sharper, the interest higher. Those are the pilgrimage tours.

“You get every kind of questions, also sometimes very strange ones,” she acknowledged. “Usually pilgrims are more interested, I should say more motivated, so they listen to you more carefully. This is the difference.”

On this tour most of the roughly 1,000 pilgrims in Rome for the Consistory of Cardinal Dolan were shepherded around the ancient city on a fleet of buses chartered by Peter’s Way Tours, the official pilgrimage tour company.

Pilgrims visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major, one of the four major basilicas built by Pope Sixtus III (432-440 A.D.), where relic fragments of what is believed to be Jesus’ manger are held. They also visited St. John Lateran Cathedral, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. The visit on Feb. 16 was their second to the famous church, which from the fourth through the 14th century had been the home and residence of all the popes. They had been there the day before for the first Mass of the pilgrimage celebrated by Cardinal Dolan. It was a rare honor for the Cardinal to be able to celebrate Mass at the altar of the Pope’s own parish.

Perhaps the emotional highlight of the tour for most pilgrims was across the square from St. John Lateran, the site of the Holy Stairs, believed to be the very 28 marble steps that Christ walked on his way to Pilate’s palace, removed from Jerusalem centuries ago and brought to Rome. A steady stream of pilgrims from around the world were literally crawling on their knees up the stairs as they prayed at each step, the intensity of their dedication evident on their faces.

“Suffering”is what the steps represented to May and Pauline Woei, who worship at St. John the Evangelist parish in Manhattan. “I would say it was a highlight of the tour today,” Pauline told CNY. “I took pictures of the people.” Her sister, May, did try a couple of steps on her knees but soon gave it up. “Too hard,” she admitted.

The siblings said they joined the pilgrimage because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime event.””

The tour’s final stop was the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, which houses fragments believed to be from the true cross, brought to Rome by St. Helena centuries ago.

The tour concluded with a meal and reception hosted by Cardinal Dolan at Cecilia Metella Restaurant, along the famous Apian Way, one of ancient Rome’s most famous thoroughfares.

-Ron Lajoie