5.5 million in Philippines parade ahead of papal visit

More than five million barefoot devotees paraded a centuries-old icon of Jesus Christ through Manila Friday in a loud, heaving paroxysm of religious fervour ahead of Pope Francis’s visit to Asia’s bastion of Christianity. In fervent displays of devotion, huge crowds of men, women and children chanted “Viva!” (Long live!) and twirled white handkerchiefs at the Black Nazarene, with some hurling themselves at the supposedly miraculous statue for good luck. The mammoth procession, estimated by the Philippine Red Cross at 5.5 million people, crawled at a near-snail’s pace along Manila’s old quarter as devotees risked life and limb for the privilege of pulling the fat rope that moved the float forward.

The Lord is my healer. It’s an extraordinary feeling, it’s like the Holy Spirit is entering my body.

Lina Javal, who waited in line for hours to kiss the life-sized ebony statue

City officials and the Philippine Red Cross said a man died from a heart attack and more than 600 others were treated for various injuries as the crowd wriggled past trash-strewn streets in light rain and overcast skies. Many Filipinos believe the statue holds miraculous healing powers and make lifetime vows to join the annual parade, often wearing T-shirts emblazoned with an image of Christ crowned in thorns. Eight in 10 of the Philippines’s 100 million people are Catholics, and the Black Nazarene festival is a display of the vibrance of the religion ahead of the papal visit which begins on January 15. During his trip, Pope Francis will comfort victims of deadly Super Typhoon Haiyan in central Leyte island, and celebrate mass for millions in the capital’s largest outdoor park.

The brand of religious devotion that we see in Filipino Catholicism is based on a very strong desire of the majority of our people for a more immediate and direct access to divine help or power.

Manuel Victor Sapitula, a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines

Asia-Pacific Black Nazarene