More than two million people participate in procession in Brazil

The 234th Círio de Nazaré, a traditional pilgrimage honoring Our Lady of Nazareth, drew approximately 2.3 million people to the streets of Belém in Pará state, Brazil, on Sunday, Oct. 11 for a procession that according to organizers is the largest in Brazil and one of the largest in the world.

The procession took about five hours for participants to cover the 3.6-kilometer (about 2.25 miles) route from the Belém Metropolitan Cathedral to Sanctuary Square located in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Nazareth.

The Círio’s Sunday program began at 6:00 a.m. with a Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Belém, Julio Akamine Endi, in front of the metropolitan cathedral. In his homily, he highlighted the significance of the procession as an expression of a shared journey toward Christ.

“The procession is very slow and takes a long time, but the pace is because we don’t want to leave anyone behind; we don’t want to abandon anyone along the way. We want everyone to reach Jesus Christ, to reach eternal life together,” he said.

“What kind of salvation is it where we leave others behind? We want to walk together, and this must also be reflected in our evangelizing and missionary…