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The image of the Jesus of the Great Power was accompanied by thousands of penitents through the historic center of Quito, Ecuador.
Thousands of faithful Catholics returned this Friday (04.15.2022) to the streets of various cities of the American continent, to participate in the Good Friday processions, after two years of absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In Quito, prayers, songs, tears, hope and gratitude filled the streets of the historic center of the city this Friday for more than three hours during the “Jesus del Gran Poder” procession, one of the largest manifestations of the Catholic faith in Ecuador. Hundreds of people dressed in the traditional purple tunic of the cucuruchos, in the first mass procession after COVID-19.
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The processions also returned to Guayaquil, one of the first focuses of the pandemic in Latin America. In this port in the southwest of the country, the parishioners recreated the Via Crucis in the procession of Cristo del Consuelo, an image that summons some 500,000 people.
Cry against violence in Haiti
In Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, thousands of Catholics participated in a Way of the Cross in Port-au-Prince, walking through various streets and praying, in a context marked by the worsening climate of insecurity in the country.
The procession had a special dedication to the “people who suffer in Martissant and Fontamara”, located at the southern entrance of Port-au-Prince and kidnapped since June 2021 due to wars between the armed gangs that control the territories.
Catholics of Managua without their sacred image
In Nicaragua, thousands of people joined the traditional penitential way of the cross in Managua. Some walked barefoot on the hot summer pavement, others marched on their knees, others blindfolded and walking backwards.
During the massive procession, the devotees carried on their shoulders a picture with a painting of the image of the Blood of Christ, and at their feet, in a glass urn, an image of the face of that image venerated since 1638 and that was almost burned on July 31, 2020 in his chapel in the Managua Cathedral in an involuntary fire, according to the government version, in a terrorist act, according to the Catholic Church.
Processions in Honduras
In Honduras, the faithful also returned to commemorate the representation of the Calvary of Jesus, after two years of absence of faithful in Catholic temples due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hundreds of people gathered near the Metropolitan Cathedral, located in the center of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, to participate in the penitential way of the cross. Similar processions were held in the main cities of the Central American country.
Colombia: penitents return in Santo Tomás
In Colombia, through the streets of Santo Tomás, a small and very hot town near the Caribbean city of Barranquilla, the penitents paraded again this Friday, famous for the flogging that some of them do to their backs to pay for requested favors.
During the last two years, the penitents could not perform their ritual due to the restrictions on gathering and mobility imposed by the pandemic and they preferred to postpone their penances to fulfill them at home in private.
Iconic processions return in Mexico
In Mexico, the iconic procession of the “grilled Atlixco”, men who march with shackles and chains, returned this Good Friday to this municipality in the Mexican state of Puebla, in the center of the country.
Hundreds gathered early in the old Convent of San Francisco to prepare the chains, thorns and clothing for the procession, where little by little they took off their clothes to stay in a loincloth and a wine-colored handkerchief on their faces, with everything else at Discover.
Their legs and arms became canvas for thorns that remained embedded for several hours, while their backs and chests were covered with thick and thin chains that in some cases weighed up to 50 kilos.
Meanwhile, in the popular neighborhood of Iztapalapa, in the south of Mexico City, the representation of the Stations of the Cross took place, a fervent tradition established more than a century and a half ago, which this 2022 had a hybrid format after two years of having been behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
However, with health alerts lowered, the crowds returned to Iztapalapa, where according to the authorities, at least 1.5 million people attended the religious event.
jc (efe, afp, Millennium, Confidential)