A sea of devotees estimated by the Cebu City Police Office to have reached around 300,000 joined the Penitential Walk with Mary dawn on Friday, January 17, 2025.
The procession of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Cebu, started at Fuente Osmeña at 4 a.m.
Devotees brought with them their images of the Blessed Virgin and the Señor Santo Niño (Holy Child Jesus).
The participants lit candles while they prayed the Holy Rosary as they walked to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño along Osmeña Boulevard.
A drone video showed that the head of the procession was near the Basilica but the tail was yet at the starting point at midtown area.
It was learned that devotees from outside Cebu have arrived in Cebu City to participate in the walk that capped the Novenary for the 460th Fiesta Señor celebration.
The image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe reached the Basilica at 5 a.m. which opened the first Mass on the last day of the novenary.
The Pilgrim Center was already full of churchgoers, as well as outside, when the procession reached the Basilica.
The CCPO has deployed hundreds of policemen and force multipliers to ensure peace and order at the route of the procession.
By 7 a.m., the images of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Santo Niño were taken out of the Basilica for the “Traslacion 2025” to the National Shrine of Saint Joseph in Mandaue City in preparation for the fluvial procession on Saturday, January 18, 2025.