Thousands of devotees thronged Quiapo Church in Manila on Saturday for a glimpse of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ believed to have miraculous healing powers, after an annual parade was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Ignoring official pleas to stay home because of the virus threat, Catholics wearing masks and face shields gathered along an avenue outside the church in the capital, where the first of 15 masses for the feast of the Black Nazarene began before dawn.
People patiently waited to enter the church or watched the back-to-back masses broadcast live on large screens outside.
The orderly scenes were in contrast to the normal frenzied procession involving hundreds of thousands of pilgrims risking life and limb to touch the icon in the belief it can heal the sick.
In other developments:
• In contrast to the “sea of people” in past years, the number of devotees occupying the two main streets leading to the Quiapo Church rose to nearly half a million on Saturday morning on the Feast of the Black Nazarene, the Manila Police District said.
“On Quezon Boulevard alone mahigit 300,000. Sa Palanca naman mahigit na 100,000 na,” MPD Director Police Brigadier General Leo Franciso said.
• Manila apostolic administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo told Black Nazarene devotees to trust God and Jesus Christ amid the continuing threat of COVID-19 which has infected more than 482,000 Filipinos and claimed more than 9,300 lives.
The Manila bishop, who celebrated the first mass for the Feast of the Black Nazarene, reminded millions of devotees that “God is with us” even during this time of hardship brought by coronavirus 2019 which has made our lives more challenging.
• As devotees continued to flock to Quiapo, the church vicar assured that only 30% of the venue capacity is filled, in accordance with guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
“Nasusunod ang 30% minimum seating capacity sa loob ng Quiapo Church,” Fr. Douglas Badong, parochial vicar of Quiapo Church (Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene), said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.
• The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday said it reported to Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso the alleged crowding around Quiapo Church despite limitations to mass gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Alex Irasga, working committee head of the Feast of Black Nazarene, told Teleradyo in an interview that devotees were disciplined, with no more traces of “organized chaos” from the previous years.
• Several devotees who are senior citizens did not reveal their real ages to authorities to attend activities during the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo Church, the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) said on Saturday.
“Ang mga kapulisan po natin medyo nahihirapan nga po silang awatin ang ating senior citizens. ‘Pag tinanong po sila ay mababa sa 65 ang sinasabi nilang edad nila pero sa tingin naman po ng ating mga kapulisan ay mahigit 65 na po,” MDRRMO Director Arnel Angeles said in a Super Radyo DZBB interview.
The life-sized statue — brought to the Philippines in the early 1600s when the country was a Spanish colony — is traditionally pulled through the packed streets of the capital on a float in one of the world’s biggest displays of Catholic devotion.
But fearing it could turn into a virus super-spreader event this year, authorities cancelled the parade for the first time in decades and instead urged people to watch the masses livestreamed on Facebook.
Worshippers attending the church were forced to look but not touch the icon, which was placed out of reach on the balcony above the entrance.
For many, that was enough.
“I’m so happy with what I’m seeing here now,” said George Arevalo, 32, after attending mass where social distancing rules have limited the congregation to about 400 people for each service.
Arevalo said he touched the statue for the first time during the 2017 procession, an act he believes ensured his epileptic wife, who was pregnant at the time, was able to deliver a healthy baby.
The risk of catching the coronavirus, which has infected nearly half a million people in the country did not bother Marlene Ordiales, 58, who believed the Black Nazarene would protect her.
“I don’t mind the pandemic. I leave it up to him,” Ordiales told AFP as she waited to enter the church.
Several thousand police were deployed to ensure social distancing in the devout crowd, which Manila’s disaster agency estimated had topped 30,000 in the first few hours of the celebration.
About 80 percent of Filipinos consider themselves to be Catholic.
The statue is called the Black Nazarene because of its charred colour, believed to have occurred when it survived a fire aboard a ship en route from Mexico.In the weeks leading up to Saturday, it was taken to several churches around the city to give devotees the opportunity to see it in the hope of avoiding a huge crowd on feast day.