Thousands of Filipinos honour Black Nazarene

Manila: Hundreds of thousands of Filipino Catholic devotees expressing religious gratitude and seeking redemption from sins, miracle cures and a better life poured into the streets of Manila on Saturday in an annual procession honouring a centuries-old dark image of Jesus Christ.

The mostly male barefoot devotees of the Black Nazarene clad in maroon shirts converged for an early morning mass at the sprawling grounds of a seaside parade grandstand where Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales exhorted them to follow Christ's life of "simplicity, humility and charity."

The Manila police said the crowd numbered at least 1 million, but there were no independent estimates.