Millions of Catholic devotees take part in the annual religious procession of the Miraculous Black Nazarene in Manila Jan. 9, 2014 starting at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta, Manila. A sea of humanity took part in the annual religious Translacion procession of the Miraculous Black Nazarene this Thursday morning. The culminating event started with a 3 am mass at the Basilica Church in Quiapo, Manila. At the Quirino Grandstand, a morning mass was also led by by Manila Archbishop Tagle. Hourly mass will continue at the Quiapo Church until the arrival of the venerated image of the Black Nazarene there. Because of the massive crowd that showed up, some even became unruly in their attempt to get near the religious image, the procession started a bit late before 8 am. Radio reports said the procession of the Miraculous Black Nazarene's Life Size statue moved a bit slower this year compared to previous years because of the bigger crowd. Early estimates of 15,000 people were expected to increase as the day progresses with authorities saying the crowd was easily 10% more than in past celebrations. In addition the event is expected to take longer this year after authorities slightly changed the procession route, barring access to the MacArthur bridge when portions of it were found to be weak. Instead it will proceed to Jones bridge to Escolta.
