Hundreds of thousands of Filipino Catholics have begun a raucous religious procession in Manila to honour a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ in an annual event that organisers say was being held partly to pray for the victims of a monster typhoon that ravaged the central Philippines last year.<br /><br /> Officials say 6,000 policemen were deployed on Thursday to secure the massive, daylong procession, a security nightmare due to the presence of Muslim extremists and widespread crimes in the country.<br /><br /> Officials say up to 12 (m) million devotees may join, but such figures are difficult to independently confirm.<br /><br /> The worshippers crowded around a life-sized wooden statue of Jesus Christ, known as the Black Nazarene.<br /><br /> People hurl towels or handkerchiefs to be wiped on the icon.<br /><br /> Many believe the Black Nazarene holds mystical powers that can wash away sins or cure illnesses.<br /><br /> “I bring and raise my grandson with Cerebral Palsy to the image of the Black Nazarene, now he is cured,” said Alicia De Los Trinos who has been a devotee since her high school days forty years ago.<br /><br /> “If you can see him, usually when a child has cerebral palsy they are very weak, but with the lord’s mercy he is now like a normal boy,” she added. <br /><br /> 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.<br /><br /> The ship that carried it caught fire, but the charred statue survived and was named the Black Nazarene.<br /><br /> Some believe the statue’s survival of fires and earthquakes through the centuries and intense bombings during World War II is a testament to its powers.<br /><br /> The Philippines, Asia’s most predominantly Christian nation, is 80 percent Catholic.<br />No Comment | euronews: watch the international news without commentary | http://www.euronews.net/nocomment/
