Vatican archives documenting centuries of European history including Galileo Galilei's trial documents and Martin Luther's excommunication went on public display for the first time Wednesday.
The exhibit also includes a request to annul Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the 'Dictatus Papae' of Pope Gregory VII, an 11thcentury script asserting the spiritual and terrestrial powers of the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The exhibit titled "Lux in Arcana" in Rome's Capitoline Museums will run until Sept. 9 and organizers said it was a unique chance to see a priceless collection of documents from the Vatican's closely-guarded vaults.
"It will be the first and possibly the only time in history that they leave the confines of the Vatican City walls," organizers said in a statement.
They said the show has "100 original and priceless documents selected among the treasures preserved and cherished by the Vatican Secret Archives for centuries" and includes multimedia installations about the documents.
The exhibition marks the 400th anniversary of the creation of the Vatican Secret Archives by Pope Paul V.
The Holy See's second in command, Secretary of State Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, opened the show with Vatican culture minister Gianfranco Ravasi, Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno and Italian Culture Minister Lorenzo Ornaghi.
Mary Stuart's last letter to Pope Sixtus V is displayed during the exhibition "Lux in Arcana, the Vatican secret Archives reveals itself" at the Capitoline Museums
Asked what he had been most struck by, Bertone said it was the "historical truth" in documents on Pope Pius XII's papacy during the Second World War. Pius XII has been criticized by Jewish groups for not doing enough to ease their persecution.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the head of the Vatican archives Sergio Pagano said all the documents in the vaults from Pius XII's papacy would be made available to researchers "within one or two years."
"Benedict XVI's willingness to accelerate the opening, also as a way of silencing dissonant voices on the pontificate of pope Pacelli (Pius XII), can only benefit the Church," he said.
Bertone said earlier the exhibition would help "the search for truth and the common good" - and would dispel "a pseudo-historical novelistic ambience," an apparent reference to Dan Brown's bestselling Da Vinci Code.
Among other treasures are a 10th-century parchment on the division of powers between pope and emperor and a document on the nomination of 13th-century hermit Pietro Morrone as Celestine V - the only pope ever to resign.
There is also a 15th-century edict from Pope Alexander VI on carving up the New World between Spain and Portugal after Columbus's discovery of America, as well as a secret code he used when he was besieged by French troops.
There are letters from Michelangelo about building St. Peter's basilica in the 16th century, the deed of abdication by queen Christina of Sweden from 1654 and a letter on silk from the 17th-century Chinese empress Helena Wang.
Among the documents is a letter written on birch bark from the chief of the Ojibwa Native American tribe to Pope Leo XIII in the 19th century, calling him: "Grandmaster of Prayers, who makes functions of Jesus."
Another rarity is a letter from imprisoned French Queen Marie Antoinette after the revolution in 1789, which reads: "The feelings of those who share my sorrow ... are the only consolation I can receive in this sad circumstance."
Rome's mayor Alemanno said: "This exhibition is really unique and exceptional. This is the first time that the Vatican secret archives open their doors for an incredible exhibition that spans all historical eras."
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