Devotees in Philippines join massive ‘Black Nazarene’ procession

January 9, 2026 – 1:06 PM

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Hundreds of thousands of Philippine devotees joined an annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ

on Friday

Filipinos turned the streets of Manila into a sea of maroon and gold as they swarmed the “Black Nazarene”, a life-sized image of Jesus Christ half-kneeling and bearing a

wooden

cross, which dates back to at least

the 17th century

Devotees jostled for a chance to pull the thick rope towing the carriage, while others clambered out of the crowd to

touch

the glass-encased

statue

Around 439,000 people had joined the procession

by 8 a.m. on Friday morning

, organisers estimated.

The crowd is expected to swell in the next several hours as the procession moves along its route.

Many devotees believe touching the statue would

bring blessings

and heal their illnesses. Nearly 80% of Filipinos identify as Roman Catholic.

Some influential Church leaders took advantage of this year’s feast to criticise the political establishment

with the country still reeling

from a graft scandal related to

overvalued

unbuilt

flood mitigation projects that have discouraged investors and slowed economic growth.

Bishop Rufino Sescon, a former parish priest of the Quiapo church,

which is the custodian of the Black Nazarene

has hurt other people

“Have mercy on the nation,”

he said.

“You should be ashamed;

step

down voluntarily for the sake of mercy and love,” Sescon said in his homily, without naming specific politicians.

The procession, called the “traslacion”, or translation, commemorates the transfer of the Black Nazarene from a church inside the old Spanish capital of Intramuros to its present location in

Quiapo church.

The image was brought to the

Philippines

from Mexico in the 1600s during the galleon trade when the country was

still

a colony of Spain.

—Reporting by Mikhail Flores; Editing by David Stanway