"MANILA, Philippines – Two people are dead and hundreds more were injured as the result of
massive throngs that followed and sought to press up against a centuries-old statue of Christ that was marched through the streets of Manila as part of an annual Roman Catholic celebration called the Feast of the Black Nazarene.
While the large number of those filling the streets could not be counted with surety, police in the Philippines estimate that at times more than half a million Filipinos participated in the procession, which takes place every Jan. 9th in the city. Roman Catholics carry white cloths and seek to touch the wooding carving of Jesus carrying the cross out of their belief that it possesses healing powers.
“The brand of religious devotion that we see in Filipino Catholicism is based on a very strong desire of the majority of our people for a more immediate and direct access to divine help or power,” Manuel Victor Sapitula, sociology professor at the University of the Philippines, told AFP. “That is why it is sought through physical touch, sound, bodily experience, or any combination of these.”
The statue, known as the Black Nazarene for the figure’s dark complexion, is believed to have been brought from Mexico to Manila in the 1600’s. It was carried aboard a ship, and although the vessel caught fire, it was not destroyed. For the past 200 years, millions have flooded the streets as the wooden carving is carried through Manila for its annual feast day." ChristianNews
While the large number of those filling the streets could not be counted with surety, police in the Philippines estimate that at times more than half a million Filipinos participated in the procession, which takes place every Jan. 9th in the city. Roman Catholics carry white cloths and seek to touch the wooding carving of Jesus carrying the cross out of their belief that it possesses healing powers.
“The brand of religious devotion that we see in Filipino Catholicism is based on a very strong desire of the majority of our people for a more immediate and direct access to divine help or power,” Manuel Victor Sapitula, sociology professor at the University of the Philippines, told AFP. “That is why it is sought through physical touch, sound, bodily experience, or any combination of these.”
The statue, known as the Black Nazarene for the figure’s dark complexion, is believed to have been brought from Mexico to Manila in the 1600’s. It was carried aboard a ship, and although the vessel caught fire, it was not destroyed. For the past 200 years, millions have flooded the streets as the wooden carving is carried through Manila for its annual feast day." ChristianNews
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,
nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,
Genesis 20:4,5
