Manila, Philippines - Hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics joined a raucous religious procession in Manila on Sunday to honor a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ that they believe possesses mystical powers.
Nearly 400 people fainted or were injured as barefoot devotees surged forward over iron railings to try and touch the 404-year-old image of Christ — known as the Black Nazarene — at the end of morning mass in a Manila park.
Police said the crowd of about 1 million people that gathered at Rizal Park could swell later Sunday. About 3,500 police secured the 3-mile (5-kilometer) route that took the statue from the park to a popular church in Quiapo district, Manila police chief Roberto Rongavilla said.
The wooden statue of Christ, crowned with thorns and bearing a cross, is believed to have been brought from Mexico to Manila in 1606 by Spanish missionaries. The ship that carried it caught fire, but the charred statue survived and was then called the Black Nazarene.
Some believe the statue's survival of fires and earthquakes through the centuries, and intense bombings during World War II, are a testament to its mystical powers. The Philippines, Asia's most predominantly Christian nation, is 80 percent Catholic.
As the statue was pulled on a carriage by rope through Manila's streets, swarms of male worshippers jostled their way toward the Black Nazarene to touch, kiss, or wipe towels and handkerchiefs on it to acquire its believed powers.
Jose Garcia, 45, clutching a rosary in one hand, said he believed his yearly attendance at the procession had cured his crippled son who now can walk. Another son was recently diagnosed with a heart ailment that requires surgery, which he said he could never afford. "I need another miracle from God. Please senor, save my other son," he said to the statue.
In the Philippines, poverty affects about a third of the more than 90 million population.
Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said he was moved by the large turnout. "It was simply overwhelming seeing that sea of humanity," he told The Associated Press. "I asked, 'Jesus, can you see these people? Please answer their prayers.'" Rosales said he prayed for peace in the Philippines, which has grappled with decades-old communist and Muslim insurgencies.