ABS-CBN News / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // The celebration of Señor Santo Niño de Cebú attracted millions of faithful and tourists to the city of Cebu in the central Philippines Jan. 9 to 19.
The event celebrates the arrival of Christianity to the country in 1521, according to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN). As the Philippines’ biggest liturgical celebration, the celebration marked its 460th year with the theme, “Santo Niño: Hope of the Pilgrim Church.”
This year’s crowd was estimated to be more than 4 million people, quadruple that of 2024‘s.
UCAN reported that on the concluding day of the feast “the Basilica’s sprawling plaza, or Pilgrim Center, was filled with devotees spilling out onto surrounding streets. Many wept as they expressed thanks for ‘miracles,’ and even more prayed for deliverance from sickness, family, school, and work problems.”
On Jan. 16, hundreds of thousands of people participated in the Penitential Walk, the novena, and the procession of images. The night before the feast, hundreds gathered on boats to join a procession on a river, remembering the arrival of Christianity from Spanish missionaries.
The Señor Santo Niño de Cebú is the country’s oldest religious image, according to UCAN. It was brought over by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who led a Spanish expedition. Among the country’s population of 110 million people, 85% identify as Catholics.
