Two million Filipinos join annual religious procession (Roundup)

Jan 9, 2009, 8:21 GMT

   Manila - At least 2 million barefoot devotees jammed the streets in the Philippine capital on Friday in an annual procession to honour a centuries-old statue of a suffering Jesus Christ.

   More than 100 people were treated for minor injuries as the devotees pushed and shoved to touch the Black Nazarene during the 5-kilometre procession from the Luneta Park grandstand to Quiapo Church in downtown Manila.

   Police Superintendent Roberto Rosales, a district police chief, said the crowd swelled to at least 2 million as more devotees arrived from outside Manila.

   More than 1,500 police officers were deployed around Quiapo Church and Luneta Park since Thursday night, when devotees of the Black Nazarene began to gather for a vigil.

   Traffic was re-routed away from the Quiapo Church, but surrounding streets were still jammed due to the huge crowd.

   Last year, two people were killed during the procession.

   Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said many Filipinos are devoted to the Black Nazarene because they identify with his suffering amid widespread poverty in the Philippines.

   'Filipinos see Christ in themselves when they suffer from poverty and oppression,' Rosales said in his homily at a dawn mass before the procession began. 'In their devotion, they see God's love for them amid all this misery.'

   The life-size wooden statue of a dark-skinned Jesus Christ was said to have been brought to the country by a Spanish priest from Mexico in 1606.

   Hundreds of people go to Quiapo Church every Friday to seek its 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 event in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, with more than 80 per cent of the population adhering to the religion.