I wasn’t able to attend the prayer vigil in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore before the canonisation of John Henry Newman in Rome as our – very exhausted – Catholic Herald Newman pilgrim group found ourselves blocked by Vatican guards from leaving the roped-off area of the sacristy of St Peter’s Basilica. The reason we were led through to the sacristy is that that was where our “pilgrim passports” were given their final stamp after we had completed the last 70 miles of the Via Francigena, the ancient route that winds through France, Switzerland and Italy.