Philippines’ biggest display of Catholic devotion still recovering from pandemic

Thousands in the Philippine capital Manila flooded the streets to celebrate a scaled-down version of the annual Feast of the Black Nazarene. Traditionally the country’s biggest display of Catholic devotion, hundreds of thousands of worshippers would walk in a procession behind a cart pulling a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ, believed to have healing powers. But the procession was cancelled for two years owing to the pandemic. This year, organisers made changes to try and keep participant numbers down amid fears of a spike in cases.