Why do we go on pilgrimage? Peter Newsham makes a persuasive case for the holy journey in the modern age by considering the enduring power of two of the greatest Catholic shrines Fátima, the city of peace, copes well with the July heat. When the midsummer sun is blasting the great, open concourse at the heart of the shrine in central Portugal, pilgrims, tourists and the merely curious take refuge from the 40°C furnace in the cool wings of the esplanade, which flank the central podium and altar. But there are also vast, cool, refreshing subterranean spaces, places of sanctuary from the burning sun, given over to long ranks of confessionals catering for any and every nationality, exhibition halls relating to the apparitions of 1917 and a grand new space devoted to the spiritual, and