Asia-Pacific News
Tens of thousands join annual religious procession in Philippines
Jan 9, 2008, 7:42 GMT
Manila - Tens of thousands of barefoot devotees packed small streets around a church in the Philippine capital on Wednesday to join an annual procession honouring a centuries-old statue of the suffering Jesus Christ.
Scores of devotees collapsed and had to be rushed to nearby hospitals as they pushed and shoved each other to touch the Black Nazarene's statue under the searing heat of the afternoon sun.
Some 1,000 policemen were deployed at the Quiapo district in downtown Manila to ensure order in the area, while traffic was re-routed.
The life-size statue of the Black Nazarene was said to have been brought to the country by a Spanish priest in 1606.
Hundreds of people go to Quiapo Church every Friday to seek the Black Nazarene's intercession to ease their sufferings or to make their dreams come true.
The Feast of the Black Nazarene is one of the most celebrated religious events in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, where more than 80 per cent of the population adhere to the religion.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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The impoverished majority's idolatry towards a dark-shaded statue Black Nazarene... and on the other side they also worship the white baby Santo Niño. It's an odd Catholic country after all... Now what do YOU think about that?
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Joe AthiestJan 9th, 2008 - 09:05:25
This is really sad. Thousands of sheople trying to view an old statue of Christ. And, nobody even knows what he looked like. Jesus cannot help anybody nor can a so-called image of him. He was just another religious zealot. We see the modern religious zealots everyday blowing themselves up in the name of Allah. There have also been Buddhist monks who poured gasoline on themselves and burned themselves to toast for their religious beliefs.
However, just because some fool thinks he is a God and proclaims it.. whether it was Jesus, Mohammad or even Julius Caesar.. doesn't make it so. And, those fools who will accept a golden key (as they did from Yassar Arafat) to blow themselves into Paradise to receive the love of 72 virgins; or the fool who will chase a statue of Jesus in the belief it has some healing power are just that. Delusional fools.
I don't feel sorry for them. It's just evolution working and they ALL should receive a Darwin Award!
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