Manila, Philippines - Hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics in the Philippines followed a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ through the streets of Manila as part of annual ritual in which devotees express gratitude and seek redemption from sins, miracle cures and a better life.
The Black Nazarene's mostly male devotees - barefoot and clad in maroon shirts - converged for an early morning Mass Jan. 9 at the sprawling grounds of a seaside parade grandstand before the statue was paraded toward Manila's Quiapo Church, its home.
The crowd numbered at least 1 million, Manila police said.
The life-size wooden statue of Jesus Christ was brought from Mexico to Manila on a galleon in 1606 by Spanish missionaries. The ship caught fire, but the charred-black statue survived and thus was called the Black Nazarene.
Some believe the figure's continued survival of fires and earthquakes through the centuries, and bombings during World War II, are testament to its mystical powers.
Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said devotees have been moved by their "personal religious experience" but said they should not get carried away, warning that otherwise "it may sink to fanaticism."
About 80 percent of the Philippines' 90 million people are Catholic.