MANILA: More than five million barefoot Filipinos paraded through Manila on Friday in a loud, heaving paroxysm of religious fervor ahead of Pope Francis’s visit to Philippines.

In fervent displays of devotion, huge crowds of men, women and children chanted “Viva!” (Long live!) and twirled white handkerchiefs at the Black Nazarene, with some hurling themselves at the supposedly miraculous statue for good luck.

“It’s an extraordinary feeling,” said the clerk from nearby Laguna province.

The mammoth procession, estimated by the Philippine Red Cross at 5.5 million people, crawled at a near-snail’s pace along Manila’s old quarter as the Christians risked life and limb for the privilege of pulling the fat rope that moved the float forward.

City officials and the Philippine Red Cross said a man died from heart attack and more than 600 others were treated for various injuries as the crowd wriggled past trash-strewn streets in light rain and overcast skies.