Filipino Catholics hold big procession after pandemic eases

Roman Catholic devotees carrying miniature statues of the Black Nazarene and candles, walk along a street dubbed "walk of faith" as they celebrate the annual feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila on January 8, 2023. - AFP

MANILA, Jan 8 (AP): Thousands of Catholic devotees, many donning protective masks and bearing candles, joined a night procession through downtown Manila early Sunday to venerate a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ, which was not paraded to discourage an even larger crowd amid lingering fears of Covid-19.

The more than 80,000 devotees who church officials said joined the nearly 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) "Walk of Faith” procession were a fraction of the more than a million worshippers who typically converged in pre-pandemic years to pay homage to the life-size Black Nazarene statue in one of Asia’s biggest religious festivals.