The procession, locally known as Translacion, sees devotees carry across Manila a 400-year-old, life-size statue of Jesus Christ carrying a black wooden cross. Millions of Filipino Catholics join the march every year to see and touch Jesus Nazareno, believed to be a source of countless healings and miracles throughout the years.

Hundreds of thousands of barefoot devotees joined an annual procession in the Philippines of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ on Thursday in one of the world’s grandest displays of Catholic devotion and expressions of faith.

Thousands of devotees filled the streets for an annual Catholic procession in the Philippines. Religious locals gathered around the Quiapo Church in the capital city Manila, where the image of the Black Nazarene depicting Jesus Christ carrying a cross was set to arrive during the religious festival on January 9.