By Jay Ereno
Hundreds of thousands of barefoot devotees joined an annual procession in the Philippines on Thursday of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ in one of the world’s grandest displays of Catholic devotion and expression of faith.
Filipinos turned the streets of Manila to a sea of maroon and gold and swarmed the “Black Nazarene”, a life-sized image of Jesus Christ bearing down a cross, as devotees jostled for a chance to pull the thick rope towing the carriage across the Philippine capital.
The procession’s organisers have estimated about 220,000 people attended mass before the procession, while over 190,000 people were estimated in the march and around church grounds as of midday (0400 GMT). That number is expected to swell as it moves along its 5.8 km (3.6 mile) route.
Among them was 79-year old Victoriano Tayuni, a devotee for much of his life, who was leading a
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