Episode 2 Pilgrimage with Simon Reeve

For centuries, pilgrimage was one of the greatest adventures.

Epic journeys around the country...

You're going the wrong way. This is the Pilgrim's Way to Canterbury!

..and across the world!

'I'll be retracing the steps of our ancestors.'

Oh!

It's the spot where Jesus is said to have been born.

'Exploring the hidden...'

Some people might think this is quite macabre.

'..and the darker side of pilgrimage.'

What this gives a sense of is the scale of prostitution.

And discovering why so many modern pilgrims are taking to the road.

Come on, now, that was incredible!

My journey has taken me from the north of England to Canterbury.

On this leg, I'm travelling through

France into northern Spain, Switzerland and on to Rome.

Rome!

Then I'll journey east into Turkey, across the Mediterranean

into the Holy Land, to my final destination...Jerusalem.

It's a gobsmacker. It's a breath-taker-awayer.

I was close to the coast in northern France.

For centuries, pilgrims from the British Isles have arrived here

on the mainland of Europe,

and begun epic treks across the Continent.

They went on arduous journeys in search of shrines

and holy sites, along well-trodden paths.

I do LOVE the simple act of walking.

Much underrated now, when we can

all just jump in our cars and go anywhere.

One foot in front of the other, the rhythm soon emerges.

Many British and European pilgrims were inspired by religious devotion,

but some were also looking for excitement, romance and adventure.

In the 9th century, priests were criticised for going on pilgrimage

just to escape their duties.

In the 13th century, a French bishop complained people were

going on pilgrimage out of mere curiosity and the love of novelty.

They weren't so unlike us.

The thrill of travelling in foreign lands still draws people

to ancient pilgrim routes today.

I met up with Ian Broderick

who's walked thousands of miles across the Continent.

I've walked along this coast to Rome and Jerusalem.

You've walked to Jerusalem?!

I have, indeed.

My goodness. That's... I find that very inspiring.

Yes, surprising, isn't it? SIMON LAUGHS

When you go on your epic walks,

are you going for reasons of piety and devotion

or for adventure as well?

To define pilgrimage is a very complicated thing.

It can be many things,

and the modern pilgrim isn't a purely devotional Christian pilgrim.

We walk with more intention of discovery.

A lot of people say that pilgrimage mimics life. It's difficult,

it's tiring and there are events that surprise us,

but the thing that I think surprises a lot of people

is HOW they are on a pilgrimage and what happens to them.

There's absolutely no hiding place on a pilgrimage

if you're honest with yourself.

Because you're alone with your thoughts and your...?

And everything. Your emotions, aspirations and hopes.

It's all there while you're walking. It unfolds with you.

I found Ian and what he's done really inspiring.

I think most people -

if they'd heard there's someone who's walked to Jerusalem -

would think they're completely bonkers,

but, of course, Ian's right.

Travelling over land on foot is by far the most exciting

and interesting and memorable way

to engage with a country and a landscape.

He has had experience and racked up memories the like of which

most people can't even begin to imagine.

The 500 years up to the early 16th century are considered

the golden age of pilgrimage in Europe.

In some years, a fifth of the population of the Continent

was either on pilgrimage or directly involved

in the industry of inns and churches and hostels

that sprung up around it.

As pilgrim numbers increased,

villages near popular shrines developed into towns.

Pilgrimage helped to shape Europe.

I've reached the small town of Saint-Omer,

which is probably one of the first places

that British pilgrims coming to France would have arrived in.

They'd have headed for the cathedral.

The town of Saint-Omer is just 30 miles inland

from the English Channel.

I followed in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims, who would have

marked their journeys with regular stops for prayers along the way.

HE GASPS

(There are three people here praying.)

The cathedral was built and added to

between the 13th and 16th centuries.

It's since survived the ravages of war and revolution

and remains a fairly spectacular bit of Gothic architecture.

There is something awe-inspiring about...

cathedrals on a scale like this.

But cathedrals needed to make sure visitors kept coming.

A church like this would have really benefited from advertising

the potential and power of its relic.

Now a relic would be a bit of a saint or even a bit of cloth

worn by a saint.

A church wanted to have one that people believed in

because if they believed in it,

then they would travel a great distance to witness it,

to try and touch it, and, of course, pilgrims meant money.

It meant money for the upkeep of the church, but also the wealth

and prosperity of the community around it, so relics had

an enormous religious power, but also an economic power as well.

The relic here is the tomb of Saint Erkembode,

a 7th century Irish monk who became the bishop of the area.

He spent much of his time travelling huge distances on foot

helping the poor.

By the end of his life, his devotion had left him unable to walk.

He became the patron saint of children who have

difficulties in walking, and pilgrims came here hoping for cures.

To my surprise, they still do.

There's a prayer here. It says, "Pray for our little baby."

He's five-years-old. He's not well.

He has to have surgery soon on his legs.

I've got a two-year-old son.

He has...shoes that are of a similar size to this.

I find it almost...

It is heartbreaking to see this.

And I know that if he had a problem, there is nothing I would not do.

There would be no lengths I wouldn't go to.

No God I wouldn't pray to...

to try and get help for him.

I can almost sense the desperation

that accompanies the placing of these shoes.

We cling to hope at difficult times.

And I sense that's what a lot of these shoes signify.

We're speeding across France. It's such a lovely way to travel.

Got a little map which shows modern pilgrimage routes across Europe,

but they're all based on ancient routes...

..and what I find really fascinating is just how they form

an almost web across the Continent.

The pilgrimage routes across Europe became our major routes

and motorways today.

In Western Europe there are now believed to be

more than 6,000 pilgrimage sites.

They attract tens of millions of visitors every year,

helping to drive tourism and travel.

I was heading towards a Spanish town that, by the early 12th century,

ranked alongside Rome and even Jerusalem

as one of the holiest places on Earth.

To get there, pilgrims followed an ancient route known as the Camino.

It stretches over 500 miles.

Starting in France, it climbs over the Pyrenees, winds through

northern Spain, and finishes in the Holy City of Santiago de Compostela.

I arrived in the French border town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port,

bustling with pilgrims preparing for their epic trek

along the Camino route to Santiago.

It's quite ironic, really, how a town like this now makes

such a living off the new pilgrims who aren't just tourists,

I suppose, they are adventure hikers in many respects.

Travelling has never been easier,

but the Camino is still drawing people from across the world,

who want to make the journey by foot the old-fashioned way.

It also seems to attract a certain hardy and determined type.

I bumped into Lorna Jeanne,

who as a child was caught in a house fire in her home.

Yeah, my parents...

The house blew up and I was trapped inside, but...

Have you had many operations?

Oh, yeah. In the first nine months, 72. They lost count after that.

-72 operations?

-In the first nine months.

That's the first nine... And do you still have to have surgeries?

I should, but I don't...

I don't want to take the time out to be laid up.

-The time out of life?

-Yeah. I don't let anything get in my way.

Just look out, here I come! SHE LAUGHS

The Camino has become one of the most popular long distance

pilgrimage routes in the world.

Nearly 200,000 hikers and bikers

completed the 500-mile route in 2012 alone.

Don't let the Toytown train deceive you.

The rest of the walk to Santiago de Compostelo

won't be...a theme park ride.

It's arduous, it's a tough walk.

We didn't have time for me to trek the entire route,

which can take a month to six weeks,

but I was able to get a real sense of the journey,

which ultimately leads to a shrine

dedicated to one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.

In the 9th century, a Spanish bishop made the rather surprising

announcement that the remains of

St James had been found in what's now Santiago de Compostela.

Countless pilgrims have since walked this way.

Just look at the wind playing across the field here.

Most medieval Christians believed their place in heaven

would be secured if they embarked on journeys of endurance,

suffering and sacrifice.

Look at the countryside here that you walk through.

It doesn't entirely strike me as penance.

By the 13th century, around half a million pilgrims a year

were walking to Santiago.

An astonishing figure when the entire population of Europe

was little more than 70 million.

The economic benefits to communities along the route were enormous.

Pilgrimage wasn't cheap.

There was food, donations, and places to stay to be paid for.

Most travellers had to pay tolls,

but the pilgrims were supposed to be exempt.

It was a system that didn't always work as it was supposed to,

so sometimes merchants pretended to be pilgrims, and sometimes pilgrims

were unlawfully charged when they should have been allowed to travel

for free, but there was a system, even if sometimes it broke down.

This is the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada,

which developed to cater for pilgrims.

The cathedral adopted a local legend as a real miracle.

Even today, it encourages pilgrims in through the doors.

The eye is initially drawn to this incredible shrine here.

A vision in gold.

But in reality,

most people come here to have a look at this over here.

COCKEREL CROWS

Chickens!

This is a bit bonkers.

There is a long story behind this.

Basically, a young man was unjustly hung

and even though he was still swinging

with his head in the noose, his parents realised he was still alive

and they ran to see the local judge and said,

"Our son was wrongly hanged and he's still alive", and the judge said

"Nonsense! Your son is no more alive than this roast chicken that I'm eating here."

At which point, the chicken came back to life,

jumped up and walked around on the table.

COCKEREL CROWS

It's not a story I really like actually,

because I tend to think of our ancestors as being not that

dissimilar from us, and perhaps being a bit wise

and cynical as well, but this story suggests they'd believe anything.

It is very relevant to pilgrimage in the spreading of stories.

It does suggest to me that however unbelievable a tale might be,

if it has strong religious tones to it,

then a cathedral will stick with it, go with it,

and make of it as much as they can.

Camino!

By the 16th century, the Camino was in decline,

caused partly by outbreaks of disease and war

and the rise of Protestant Christianity,

which was opposed to pilgrimage.

But in the last 30 years, the Camino's been revived.

Travellers have increased 100-fold.

How much weight are you carrying on there?

I think maybe 15 with the water.

-15 kilograms?

-Yeah.

-How much is Julie carrying?

Maybe two?

THEY LAUGH

I met an Australian couple, Julie and Owen,

who were ten days into their Camino.

It's a unique way to see a country.

The fact that it happens over a span of days,

it gives you a really different sort of outlook on it.

It's amazing.

Are you both people of faith?

No, it's secular.

It's a bit of a self discovery and a kind of a...

a...you know, relationship exercise in a way.

I don't want to be too cheeky, but what do you mean?

I don't know.

You know, you're with somebody all day, every day,

and often completely isolated.

You know, and it's...

I guess when you've reached your...

a bit of a pain threshold, you can get just a little bit testy,

but that's when the patience needs to come in.

Yeah, and just go OK, it's all right, we're not on the schedule.

We can rest if we need to.

Walk with someone and you really, er,

-you learn a lot about them and yourself.

-Mmm.

-For better or worse.

-Yep.

Walking the Camino is about more than just putting one foot

in front of the other, setting a target and reaching the destination.

The simple act of walking for hours, even days on end,

gives you something we don't often get in the 21st century -

a time to reflect.

I suppose the most frightening thing for me about it is that

you are left alone with your thoughts in many cases.

And personally, I find that frightening.

It's not that I've got demons in my mind.

It's just so many things to think about.

So many life issues,

so many challenges I'll start to dwell on.

We occupy ourselves so much now to try and

perhaps avoid considering aspects of life like that.

We separate ourselves off from having to think about those

sort of things, and on a walk like this, on a pilgrimage,

on a long walk, you're confronted by them.

Around half those walking the Camino are no longer religious pilgrims.

At least in the medieval sense of penance and suffering.

It seemed to me they're often well-off adventure hikers,

seeking an experience they'll remember for ever.

Many choose to stay overnight at one of the scores of pilgrim

hostels along the route.

Wow. That's where we're going.

There's a whole infrastructure along the Camino, catering

for the needs of modern travellers, just as there was in medieval times.

-Hola.

-Hola.

This is the hostel of San Nicolas.

Look at this place!

Macarrones. Pasta Italiana.

It's run by a religious charity who provide weary pilgrims with

a hearty meal and a very welcome bed for the night.

-Augusto.

-Augusto.

Augusto. Encantada.

Very nice to meet you. Habla ingles?

Very bit.

-Very bit. A little.

-Yeah, yeah.

But you have a good firm handshake and that's what matters!

BELL RINGS

Before dinner, the hosts at this hostel gather everyone together

to perform a religious ritual.

They're going to wash our feet.

One foot.

My goodness.

Cleaning the smelly feet of two dozen hikers struck me

as an act of extreme penitence by the hosts.

HOST SPEAKS IN SPANISH

For me it was a rather humbling experience.

-Gracias.

-Gracias.

There was an intimate feel to the hostel that I really enjoyed.

It was a chance to share a meal and stories with fellow travellers

and discover their reasons for walking the Camino.

Ramina and Natalia had come all the way from South America.

Can you tell us why you're doing this?

-Are you very religious?

-No.

And it's a big meditation. All day you're walking, and your...

all your head is doing... remember your family.

Remember your, I don't know, all your life goes through your head.

All day long, because you're walking and you're alone, and it's good.

You think about lots of stuff you never did, or questioned before.

Have you had moments while you've been walking

when you've been thinking almost too much and the tears start to flow?

-No tears.

-No tears.

Angry! I want to get there.

It's very brave of you.

We are brave! It's OK.

There's a real community along the Camino that I haven't expected,

and been quite surprised to experience here.

I can completely see the attraction.

I think it's a magnificent and completely memorable thing to do.

I've been blessed with a lot of travel experiences in recent years.

The last ten years particularly. But I won't forget this.

I think that's why a lot of people are doing it as well.

It does provide you with experiences that you're going to remember.

COCKEREL CROWS

NEARBY BUSTLE AND CHATTER

Oh, everybody else appears to be up.

This lot are all hardcore, aren't they?

Hardcore by my standards anyway! 07:30.

They've up and left.

I think I'd better follow them on the path.

There are many different reasons to walk the Camino.

A time to think, religious devotion, or for many,

the sheer physical challenge of completing an epic journey.

But everyone shares the same goal.

The city of Santiago de Compostela, home to the shrine of St James.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In the main square of the town, pilgrims and walkers

were arriving and celebrating the end of their Camino.

# And cheer with voices true

# Rah-rah for Notre Dame (YOU RAH-RAH!)

# We will fight in every game

# While her loyal sons are marching onward to victory

# For Notre Dame. #

Come on, now, that was incredible!

Surround sound effect. You cannot buy that!

Thank you very much.

If you want to, though, we've got CDs!

LAUGHTER

For someone without faith like me, the tale of how St James

ended up here is frankly pretty unbelievable.

Apparently James was beheaded in the Holy Land,

but stories say his remains were put into a crewless stone boat

that angels helped transport to northern Spain.

Scallop shells worn by pilgrims testify to one of the miracles

that followed, when a horse and rider were saved from the sea

and emerged covered in shells.

I met up with author Nancy Frey, who guides pilgrims along the Camino.

She's also studied how the city of Santiago developed around St James

and how it's still defined by pilgrimage today.

So is Santiago, then, one of the best examples of a town or city

that owes its entire existence to a holy shrine and to pilgrimage?

Absolutely, and what is remarkable is that it was competing with

thousands of other sites.

And what is amazing is that it really

rose to the surface of all of the other ones

because James is said to be one of Christ's inner circle.

-He's one of the most important apostles.

-Mm.

He's someone who's referred to at key moments in the ministry of Christ

and they had his whole body here.

And that obviously helped to sustain Christianity in Spain, didn't it?

Absolutely, because it becomes an anchor point for

this pilgrimage, for Christianity, in the whole north west,

and at the same time as telling the evolving story of Spain's history.

In the 8th century,

Spain was invaded by the Moors from North Africa,

and became predominantly Muslim for more than 700 years.

But a pocket of Christianity remained in the remote north

in the area around what's now Santiago.

So it was rather convenient that the remains of St James

were discovered here in the 9th century.

They became a rallying point for Christians

trying to reclaim the country.

Ironically, James, a fisherman who became an apostle,

was used in death to encourage Christian soldiers.

He became a lucky warrior mascot who was said to appear at key

battles against the Moors,

but today he's most often pictured as a humble pilgrim.

He has all of these facets.

There's this important figure next to Christ as an apostle,

and then as this figure of movement, of a journey, discovery,

the spirituality, and then of course used as a military figure.

And this is one of the reasons why I think it has been such

a successful image, because it is malleable.

You can change him and he has been changed and manipulated over time.

So is he really in there?

I don't think it really matters

because people have been believing for more than a thousand years

that he is there, and it has the consequence, the result of that

has been the creation of this remarkable way

and the presence of millions of people over the last thousand years,

who have believed or who have come here to visit this place or to

journey, to have their own journey of discovery, and here they are.

So it doesn't matter whether there are bones or not because it's here.

Whether the remains of St James

are here or not, the cathedral to house his legend took more

than 100 years to complete.

It was finally consecrated in the early 13th century.

It was designed to impress. A job it still does today.

Now that is a vision.

Look at it!

The light streaming down, it looks ethereal.

Not of this world.

I think it's quite hard to imagine how a pilgrim who has trekked

here would feel at that sight, but surely you would...

-I

-feel, as a person without faith, I feel in the presence of something...

..something holy.

CHORAL SINGING

Thousands of walkers and cyclists were crammed into the cathedral

for the Sunday Mass, which for many marks the end of their journey.

There are even some local worshippers.

As the bags are going around, I can hear all the coins

and the money jangling.

A cathedral like this would earn a fortune from pilgrims.

The finale of the Mass

involves one of the world's largest incense burners.

HE SPEAKS IN SPANISH

They used to do this to fumigate the stench from the pilgrims

massed into the cathedral.

Now of course they still do it for religious reasons,

but it's part of the drama.

It's part of the theatre of the whole occasion.

This is what makes it such an event for people

-finishing their pilgrimage.

-APPLAUSE

Listen to that!

While these travellers celebrated the end of their journey,

the next part of my journey would take me

to one of the most important pilgrimage routes through Europe.

The route between Britain and the holy city of Rome

was first mapped in the 10th century.

Pilgrims following it had to cross one of Europe's biggest obstacles...

..the Alps.

I've come to an area where a 12th century abbot

travelling from Iceland to Rome tells us the different

pilgrimage routes from Northern Europe to Italy all converged.

They would have been Scandinavians, English, Franks, French, Flemish,

all coming through this area.

Look at this, there's snow just on the road here.

Almost like a chunk of it has fallen off.

Can still just get past,

but I know I won't be able to go for much further.

And then it's going to be time to walk.

Most modern travellers now use a boring tunnel under

the mountain, but for thousands of years, pilgrims, merchants

and armies all crossed the Alps at the Great St Bernard Pass.

This must be as far as I can go.

Oh, stop the car.

The pass is 8,000 feet above sea level

and conditions for crossing it are notoriously unpredictable.

There are numerous accounts of pilgrims crossing the Alps

who lost their companions to avalanches or exposure.

The snow here can be 10 metres deep in winter

and the temperature drops to minus 30 centigrade.

In the 10th century, even an Archbishop of Canterbury

froze to death here while making a pilgrimage to Rome.

Even in summer time, as it is now, when the sky is blue,

it's still snowy up here.

Imagine the conditions in winter.

People still crossed then.

To provide shelter and safety for pilgrims and travellers,

an 11th century monk founded a hostel at the top of the pass.

He was St Bernard, the apostle of the Alps.

Look, there he is. Just round there. At the top.

Come round the bend.

It's a hostel, a refuge, a monastery,

and a very welcome sight!

A medieval manuscript describes this place as one of the three columns

built by God for the support of his poor people.

Today, the hostel is run by three canons and two sisters from the

Augustine order, who provide food and shelter for passing pilgrims.

Oh, it's lovely. Look at this!

What a lovely mountain room.

Brother Raphael showed me to my room for the night.

Oh, yes.

If you want to see where are the toilets and the douche...

I'm sure I'll find them.

If you want anything, you ring the bell and somebody will answer.

Assist. Thank you very much indeed, sir.

I pray... I wish you a good stay here.

That's lovely of you.

BELL RINGS

To look after visitors,

the canons have a small team working behind the scenes.

I offered to help out.

That's the first time I've ever served soup to anyone.

-Back in here?

-Yeah.

Pascal has worked here for the last three years.

Does it feel like you're continuing the spirit of St Bernard?

Yes, yes.

For sure, it's really touristic here, but sometimes,

and especially in summer, we have people come here with nothing.

I remember last year, a guy who came here with nothing, and we...

he didn't pay anything, and we gave clothes.

Everything. It's not a problem. We really welcome everybody.

This is a very special... a special place to work, isn't it?

Which you get pilgrims coming to as well.

Yes, we get pilgrims. Over and...more and more every year.

-More and more are coming.

-Yes. Yes.

They always say it's for spirituality, you know?

Just to walk and...

just don't think about my job,

don't think about my life.

Just to do other things, and don't think about anything.

-Get on the road.

-Yes, exactly.

You haven't eaten enough!

It was good! I was full!

You were full. OK!

Thank you!

My aim is just not to break a plate.

This ancient Christian refuge hasn't closed its doors

for a thousand years.

It's open to everyone, no matter what their religion or philosophy.

To stretch out the muscles after the long climb up the mountain,

I joined other visitors at a yoga and meditation class.

Just check in with your body. What's your body doing?

How does it feel in your legs? How do your shoulders feel?

These design students from the University of Utah

are on a European pilgrimage visiting holy sites

and places that inspired works of literature.

How was the yoga for you?

Oh, I loved it. I cried a little, to tell you the truth.

-Did you?

-Yes, I was being a baby.

For 19-year-old Ricky, it's his first experience of pilgrimage.

I actually...I love walking, hiking. I've been athletic my whole life.

Sports, and so I decided I have to do it.

Was it the history, the promise of special experiences

that drew you in?

I kind of...spiritually, I wanted to do it.

I've got to get some meaning in my life.

Is that what this is going to help you with, do you think?

I hope so. I believe.

The majority of the students are Mormons.

They were being put to work around the hostel,

apparently so they could learn about the life

of St Bernard and the value of service.

Oh, my goodness.

What are you doing?

Hard to reach spaces, I guess.

You be careful!

Oh, I'm good.

-Avec de l'eau.

-Ah, OK, oui.

-C'est tout. OK?

-OK. Je comprends.

-Simon, one for you.

-Oh, you are so kind!

Do you think there is a deeper meaning to doing things like this,

or is it just learning to do things

you don't necessarily want to do?

In a way, we get to see the monks' perspective of service.

Maintaining the cleanliness of the church

is a service for the monks.

We are repaying them for what they do for the pilgrims.

It's kind of like what goes around comes around.

Good karma and all that, right?

-Good karma?

-Yeah.

Yoga, karma, Mormons.

I was surprised by this very modern mixing of cultures and religions.

In the hostel museum I talked to Alex,

one of the leaders of the group.

We come from a highly concentrated Mormon background,

where it's a bubble.

I mean, it's a different world.

All of us are culture shocked when we go out into the world

and see that not everybody is Mormon

and everybody does the same things we do.

So to come to Switzerland?

To come to Switzerland is a big eye-opener,

because we're involved with a lot of things,

like we went to Mass yesterday.

98% of the students that we have have never been to a Catholic Mass,

and so it's easy just to write that off as,

"Oh, this is foreign to me and so this is useless,"

but what we're trying to do is show the students that, no,

this has the same amount of value to the people here

as what we do back home.

Do you feel like this is a part of a pilgrimage?

Yes, I do. I think... I don't know.

I define pilgrimage simply as a journey that an individual

just feels like he or she needs to take.

A pilgrimage is not so much an escape in my opinion,

at least not for me.

A pilgrimage is a time for you to try to find a reality

to the human condition

that you may not have tapped into before in your life.

That's good.

It was time for me to head south

to the centre of Catholic Europe, Italy.

I'm really zipping around on this journey. France, Spain, Switzerland.

I'm now driving through Italy, across Italy in fact,

to a town on the eastern side of the country,

which has seen a massive boom in the number of people and visitors

and pilgrims who have been heading there in recent years.

San Giovanni Rotondo was once a small sheep farming town.

It's now a booming pilgrimage destination.

The pilgrims are here because of Padre Pio, an Italian friar

who became famous for his miraculous powers

and Christ-like suffering.

Padre Pio died in 1968.

San Giovanni reportedly now gets more than two million visitors every year.

This is a pilgrimage site unlike anything we've seen

anywhere on this journey so far.

Very modern.

Ludicrously so, to a certain degree.

Personally I go for old and old-fashioned,

but this is...

This is very 20th and 21st century.

This cathedral opened in 2004 and can hold up to 8,000 pilgrims,

reflecting the mass appeal of what many see as the cult of Padre Pio.

It's a mega-church, eh?

Proof of the old adage,

perhaps, if you build it, they will come.

Followers of Padre Pio believed he had the ability to read souls

and appear in two places at once.

It's claimed he could miraculously cure people,

help the blind to see,

and even rose into the sky to protect this town

from American bombers during the Second World War.

Beneath the cathedral, a 75-metre corridor is adorned

from floor to ceiling

with Padre Pio mosaics that promote his legend.

The gold has come from tonnes of jewellery donated by devoted pilgrims.

It's almost overwhelming to see all this imagery of him.

Goodness me.

This is "Padre Pio answers the mail" on this side.

Padre Pio, Padre Pio, Padre Pio,

doing everything, being everywhere.

Quite bizarre.

I suppose one of the main things that's made Padre Pio so popular...

He had the stigmata.

A stigmata is when a person appears to develop identical wounds

to those of Christ on the cross suffering crucifixion,

so blood seeping from hands,

just the same as those of Christ.

The imagery here is completely mind-blowing.

It looks very much like an attempt to turn Padre Pio

into not just a saint

but somebody worthy of almost divine veneration,

somebody akin to Jesus.

This is unlike any other veneration of a Christian saint

I'm aware of anywhere in the world.

It's more extreme, more intense,

and frankly more over the top.

An Italian historian has claimed

Padre Pio kept his stigmata wounds open by using carbolic acid.

The Vatican was suspicious of Padre Pio.

Two popes had him investigated and twice banned him

from performing priestly duties.

But after he died they couldn't control his popular appeal,

and in 2002 he was given the highest honour possible bestowed by the Catholic Church...

a sainthood.

His body is now kept on display in a purpose-built crypt.

Rarely in the history of Christianity has the cult of a saint

expanded so rapidly and so powerfully

as it has around Padre Pio.

After the Vatican,

this is claimed to be the second largest pilgrimage site in Europe.

Well, that was unlike any Christian church or building, shrine

or sanctuary I've been to anywhere in the world.

It's extraordinary how important Padre Pio's become.

He went from being a fairly small-town friar

to a figure of national importance and then global significance.

The adoration of saintly figures isn't unusual, of course,

but here it's big business.

To help spread the word further,

there's a global media operation which bears his name.

Wow.

Padre Pio TV station transmits live from the cathedral

five times a day, every day.

This is what you call a feed, isn't it? This is your...

-Yes. This is the Mass.

-This is the Mass.

-Yes.

-And where is...?

-Live.

-Live, OK.

-OK?

The channel's watched around the world, including across Asia

and North and South America.

Stefania is a producer at the station.

Do you have any viewing figures for how many people

will be seeing the Mass at the moment?

We have an average of 300,000 people every day.

-300,000?

-Yes. Yes.

-And that's around the planet?

-Yes.

The TV station is run by monks.

The president is Padre Mariano Devito.

Is it a little bit unusual for an order of monks

to be involved in television?

Or is it just the 21st century?

There is almost an industry around Padre Pio.

Coach-loads of visitors arrive here daily.

In this poor region of Italy, the town and its 30,000 residents

earn more than £100 million a year from visiting pilgrims.

It's fascinating how the economy of a place like this can become

dependent on, but can exist in the first place, because of pilgrimage.

I've seen it elsewhere on my journey, but never quite so starkly.

We've got a hotel here just on this street, hotel here,

hotel, hotel, restaurant, cafe, restaurant, cafe.

All the way down this street

there are now scores of hotels in this town, which, frankly,

if the cult of Padre Pio wasn't here,

would probably deserve just a couple of little guest houses.

The town actually has more than 120 hotels serving

the 21st-century pilgrim industry.

I went to one to meet the owner, Franco, who's lived

all his life in San Giovanni and has seen the town transformed.

Have your family always been hoteliers?

Do you find it slightly astonishing that you have opened a hotel,

you've had great success,

and now the story of Padre Pio's spread so far?

'Franco employs over 100 staff,

'serving an increasing number of guests.'

You seem to have an Olympic-size swimming pool out here!

'Modern pilgrims who come here, even for just a weekend,

'often expect a certain level of luxury.'

There is this line, isn't there?

This sort of divide where people are called pilgrims or they're

called tourists, but maybe the two are becoming one now,

and certainly in a place like this.

Thank you.

Prego. Grazie a voi. Thank you!

I think what this town represents

is the globalisation of pilgrimage.

I think I'd have expected that in the 21st century,

people would have been turning away from religious belief

and pilgrimage to places like this, but quite the opposite.

They've now got people coming from around the world here,

and as long as they continue to come,

the locals here are going to keep raking in the money.

Pilgrimage trips were the forerunner of the modern holiday.

Even the word is ultimately derived from "Holy Day."

European pilgrimage had been in decline, but in recent decades,

as we've become wealthier with more spare time, it's booming.

We're softies compared to hardy medieval pilgrims,

but we still have belief.

Now many want to combine holiday and Holy Day -

a pilgrimage, but with a swimming pool.

An ancient pilgrimage route took me towards my final destination.

Travellers from Britain and Northern Europe walked this way

for centuries to get their first glimpse of the eternal city.

-HE LAUGHS

-Flipping 'eck!

Look at that!

Rome!

This would have been the first chance that hundreds

of thousands of pilgrims would have had to see this extraordinary

city coming over the hill, and there it is in front of you.

Vatican down there.

Imagine coming here and really believing in your very core

that your soul would benefit from this journey,

from arriving here.

You think what's wrapped up in that.

The history, the culture, the power, the civilisation,

the religion.

Not just generations of it, but century after century.

It's been one of the planet's great destinations.

And still today,

Rome pulls in the crowds like no other pilgrimage site in Europe.

People come to Rome now in their millions for all sorts of

reasons, but what really drew people in the past, pilgrims particularly,

was the incredible collection of relics that were housed here.

For hundreds of years, Rome had the finest collection of relics

in the world, including the Ark Of The Covenant,

the tablets of Moses and even, apparently,

Jesus' foreskin and his umbilical cord.

It would have taken Medieval pilgrims months

to walk here from Britain.

They would have been exhausted, but the city that awaited them

had its disappointments.

Many of the buildings were in ruins.

Some of them were being quarried and mined for building material.

It would have been a huge shock to pilgrims arriving here.

They'd heard tales of this grand city,

but the glory days of the Roman Empire were long past.

The Tiber in those days as well

wasn't the pleasant, flowing river that it is today.

In fact, it was a bit of a mosquito-infested swamp.

That was another great threat to pilgrims and travellers

because, of course, mosquitoes often carry disease

and Italy wasn't declared malaria-free until 1970.

Pilgrims who came here contracted it, and speaking of somebody who

also managed to get it, although in Africa, I can assure you

it's about the most unpleasant thing you can go through in life.

Despite all the threats and the challenges that faced them

on their long journey, and even when they got to Rome,

pilgrims kept coming, and they came for one thing in particular.

St Peter's and the Vatican is where the apostle Peter was martyred,

crucified upside down.

This is the perfect time to be here.

It's 10:45 on a Sunday morning,

and people are gathering.

I've come to St Peter's Square at a time when

pilgrims arrive in their thousands to be blessed by the Pope.

People have come here from all over the world.

I can see the flags of Brazil,

India over there, Poland, Argentina.

They're here for the Pope, they're here for the Vatican,

and Rome, of course, is still

the biggest pilgrimage destination in Europe.

Travelling across the Continent,

I'd seen the powerful effects holy places had on pilgrims,

but this was a much jollier gathering.

We weren't seeing yet another bit of bone belonging to a saint

who lived hundreds of years ago.

For Catholics in the Square,

the living father of their church was about to appear.

Look at the tiny little figure up there!

CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS

It is astonishing how many people are here,

but this is an audience - not a very private audience -

but one nonetheless, with a man who's close to God,

but somebody who is a very big celebrity as well.

CHEERING

CHEERING

This was the end of a journey that had taught me much

about the history and beliefs of the Continent.

I really feel I've come to understand how pilgrimage

has helped to define routes and towns and cities across Europe

and how it continues to define them today.

I'd learned that European pilgrimage has always been a challenge,

but a great opportunity for adventure.

And clearly, for those who follow a pilgrim's path,

it's about what they discover on the way,

and about themselves, and not just about racing for the journey's end.

CHEERING

'Next time, on the final leg of my travels,

'I go from Turkey to the Holy Land...'

I can't quite believe it.

The Church of the Nativity! I'm in Bethlehem.

'..and finish my journey in the city of Jerusalem.'

It's...utterly overwhelming.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd