On Friday 29 May, Dr Phil McCarthy, founder of the Hearts in Search of God, a project promoting walking pilgrimage, arrived in Rome after completing a five-week route in the heart of Italy along the ‘Via di San Francesco’ – the ‘Way of St Francis’.

Phil described “a great feeling of achievement” and praised the pilgrim team who welcomed him into St Peter’s Basilica.

The Via di San Francesco is a 500km pilgrimage which traces the life of St Francis of Assisi. In 2026, the Catholic Church is celebrating a special Jubilee Year in honour St Francis as we mark the 800th anniversary of his death.

Phil explained that he was inspired by this significant anniversary to walk the Via di San Francesco. He said:

“It seemed like a good time to walk the route. It starts in Florence and then you go up into the hills before reaching the Franciscan sanctuary of La Verna, where St. Francis received the stigmata. From then you go on through the hills; you can be climbing about 1,000 metres a day. Eventually we got to Assisi, which is obviously related to Francis from his birth, and he’s also buried there.”

The pilgrimage route is punctuated by important places linked to St Francis.

“We visited the Church of San Damiano where St Francis first heard God’s voice telling him to rebuild the Church, and then walked to Gubbio, where he encountered and tamed the wolf. We also passed places which are connected with his encounter with the man suffering from leprosy, which was such an important part of Francis’s life and his sort of conversion.”

Phil was walking the pilgrimage trail in aid of the St Francis Leprosy Guild which works to eradicate leprosy in the world today.

Describing some of the highlights of the walk, Phil spoke of the warm hospitality he received in the hostels and accommodation where he stayed along the way. This included one slightly more unusual host:

“I really enjoyed meeting Mario, the modern hermit up in the mountains, who’s been living there in a converted chapel for four years. He has been living by himself and welcoming pilgrims every day, so that was a wonderful experience.”

The presence of St Francis was keenly felt along the route – sometimes in unexpected ways.

“I think more than any other pilgrim walk I’ve done, there’s the connection with the saint. It’s not an ancient route, but it’s been very cleverly designed to connect with all those aspects of Francis’s life.

“Yesterday I was walking with a Danish pilgrim, and as we were going along the road, a hare started coming towards us. Instead of zooming off, which in my experience they normally do, it came closer and closer to us. It was an extraordinary moment of connection with the natural world. We both looked at each other and said, that’s a Franciscan moment.”

Despite being away for five weeks, Phil explained that it was difficult to completely disconnect from the world.

“There’s no escape from the world, and it’s just made me feel what a relevant saint Francis is for our time. In a time when there’s so much conflict, when we need to reach out to our Muslim brothers and sisters, and when we need to be aware of the environment and of all the threats which face it. So although he died 800 years ago, he is very much a saint for the times.”