Travel
Paul’s travels throughout the world, including to sacred sites and on pilgrimage.
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The holiest place in Samarkand
Shakhi-Zindi — the holiest site in Samarkand, a necropolis of staggering beauty that brought me to tears. A place so…
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To be in Samarkand
To be in Samarkand — the Mirror of the World, the Jewel of Islam, the Centre of the Universe —…
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My introduction to Tashkent
First impressions of Tashkent — a city still finding its feet after Soviet rule, with bare trees exposing its rougher…
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Why are you going to Uzbekistan?
Why Uzbekistan? Because a decade ago I saw an image of Shakhi-Zindi necropolis and could not let it go. A…
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Ending the old and beginning the new with St Francis
New Year in Assisi — a fourth pilgrimage to my spiritual home, deepening connections with St Francis, St Rita, the…
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Jordan – A photo essay
Despite a turbulent region, Jordan emerges here as a place of welcome and wonder: Christmas Day in Petra, star-filled nights…
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Iran: extraordinary beauty, culture, refinement and hospitality
One of the best holidays of my life — a guided tour of Iran visiting Shiraz, Persepolis, Esfahan and Tehran.…
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Lithuania – divine mercy, the hill of crosses and great cake
Lithuania — green, sunny, beautiful, and filled with extraordinary cake. The original Divine Mercy painting in Vilnius, the Hill of…
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Դուք սիրում եք Հայաստանը
Eight days in Armenia — the first country to convert to Christianity, and a land of extraordinary beauty, faith, ancient…
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Is the Maltese Terrier nearing extinction on Malta?
Malta is interesting, cultured and devout — but her quieter sister Gozo is the real treasure. On pilgrimage to the…
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Valetta: European capital of culture or a plastic pig’s arse?
Valletta is the European Capital of Culture for 2018 — so why is its Maritime Museum the worst I’ve ever…
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The perfumed underpass
A stopover in Abu Dhabi — a perfumed underpass, a woman in silver shoes, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (the…
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Pilgrimage for the feast of St Francis of Assisi
A parish address for the feast of St Francis of Assisi — on the real Francis, untamed and radical, not…
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Pilgrimage to the shrine of Padre Pio
Padre Pio — the greatest mystic of the 20th century, who bore the stigmata for fifty years and promised to…
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My favourite town in Italy
Assisi — my favourite town in Italy, and the most powerful pilgrimage site I have ever visited. Holy places, extraordinary…
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Francis of Assisi and the Holy Land
What we owe to St Francis of Assisi in the Holy Land — how his extraordinary visit to the Sultan…
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Doughnuts with an ultra-orthodox Jew
A walking tour of ultra-orthodox Jerusalem with Kitty — bad wigs, long temple curls, charity boxes on every corner, and…
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Taking a tour on pilgrimage is akin to wearing a swimsuit to church
A tour of the holy sites of Galilee — Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee — that left me feeling more…
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The doughnut divinity is definitely Jewish
OMG! Jerusalem is life changing — and it has taken me to the point of seriously considering giving up pastry…
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Getting into a convent is much easier than getting out
Locked in a convent on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem — no wifi, no telephone, and the call to prayer…
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Nailing the poverty of St Francis of Assisi to the cross
A meditation on St Francis of Assisi and the spirituality of poverty — inspired by Gerard Thomas Straub’s book “The…
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Pilgrimage stops: Collevalenza & Orvieto, Italy
Two pilgrimage stops on the road from Assisi to Rome — the Sanctuary of Merciful Love at Collevalenza, founded by…
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Pilgrimage Stop: Assisi, Italy
Four days in Assisi with my sister — two holy doors, the incorrupt body of St Clare, the smell of…
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Pilgrimage Stop: Cascia
A pilgrimage road-trip from Assisi to the Basilica of Santa Rita di Cascia — venerating the incorrupt body of St…
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Pilgrimage Stop: La Verna, Italy
For two years before his death, St Francis of Assisi carried the stigmata — the crucifixion wounds of Jesus —…
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Pilgrimage Stops: Venice & Florence
Venice and Florence — two-thirds of the holy trinity of Italian tourism. Beautiful, extraordinary, worth experiencing once — but if…
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Pilgrimage Stop: Padova
A day in Padova — St Anthony’s basilica, the world’s oldest botanical garden, and the jewel-box Scrovegni Chapel painted by…
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Pilgrimage Stop: Bologna
Bologna’s hidden saint, St Dominic’s basilica, and a 4km portico walk to a miraculous icon of the Virgin — pilgrimage…
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Returning a “global citizen” after 3.5 years of travel
After 3.5 years of sacred travel across four continents — what changes, what doesn’t, and why coming home feels like…
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Finding Xavier in Malacca
The church, the relics and the overwhelming energy of St Francis Xavier in Malacca — and what it means to…
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On my way to Xavier in Malacca
En route to St Francis Xavier in Malacca — reflections on the journey and why Xavier keeps drawing me across…
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Rennes, Mont St Michel and Lisieux
Archangel Michael’s island fortress, the Martin family home in Alençon and St Thérèse’s Lisieux — three sacred stops on one…
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Our Lady of Chartres, France
The veil of the Virgin, the labyrinth and 900 years of pilgrimage — why Chartres Cathedral remains one of the…
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Oldest shrine to Archangel Michael in Western Europe
Monte Sant’Angelo — the cave sanctuary where Archangel Michael appeared in the 5th century, and the ancient pilgrimage road that…
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Singing and dancing in Assisi
A musical theatre production, St Clare and an unexpectedly joyful evening in Assisi — proof that the sacred and the…
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Mary’s house in Ephesus
Anne Catherine Emmerich described Mary’s house above Ephesus in exact detail — before it was found. A visit to the…
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Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
The cave where seven young Christians slept for two centuries — a rare sacred site where Christianity and Islam share…
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Spiritual centre of Brasilia
Don Bosco’s prophecy, the Temple of Good Will and the quietly extraordinary spiritual life of Brazil’s planned capital. (4 min…
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A Call to Loreto
Mary’s house in Nazareth, transported by angels to a hilltop in Italy — the history, the saints and the enduring…
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Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Jasna Gora, Poland
The Black Madonna of Jasna Gora — why this sacred image carries the highest energy of any Marian shrine visited,…
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Gyor, Hungary
Our Lady Consoler of the Afflicted, the weeping icon of 1697, and an unexpected Marian pilgrimage site between Vienna and…
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Did you see St Ignatius in Vienna?
Two giant Rubens paintings in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum — and why the miracles of Ignatius and Xavier deserve far more…
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Memories of Loyola
The birthplace of St Ignatius of Loyola, the Chapel of the Conversion, and the relic that brought tears — a…
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Mary Help of Christians and the Salesian saints of Turin
Don Bosco, Dominic Savio and the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin — a pilgrimage to the heart…
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After my death I will do more
Padre Pio’s life, stigmata, miracles and his promise that his real mission would begin after his death. (3 min read)
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Doing things backwards in County Clare
St Brigid’s Well, the Cliffs of Moher and the quiet spiritual geography of County Clare — where Ireland’s second saint…
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Our Lady of Knock
The 1879 apparition in County Mayo — fifteen witnesses, a silent vision of light beings and angels, and the extraordinary…
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The intense light of San Giovanni Rotondo
Padre Pio’s home — the incorrupt body in Enzo Piano’s extraordinary basilica, the orbs in the photographs, and the overwhelming…
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The rooms of St Ignatius
Hidden beside Il Gesù in Rome, the modest Rooms of St Ignatius hold the story of a man whose Spiritual…
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Our Lady of Pompeii
The Marian shrine Padre Pio prayed to throughout his life — a painting that compels prayer, 900 documented miracles, and…
