WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A FILIPINO Catholic playing the role of Jesus Christ during Holy Week rites in the Philippines was crucified for the 33rd and the penultimate time on Good Friday (April 19).
Ruben Enaje, 58, is known to annually portray Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death on Good Friday in front of crowds of foreign and local tourists in San Pedro Cutud village in Pampanga province, north of Manila since the 1980s.
Actors drove four-inch nails into both his hands and feet and lifted him on a wooden cross for around five minutes.
Enaje told reporters after his crucifixion that he continues the tradition to remind the world about the plight of Jesus Christ, and said he has decided to stop after next year’s rites.
Two men and a woman, Mary Joy Sazon who was praying for good health and her mother’s recovery from illness, were later crucified to wooden crosses after Enaje’s act.
A total of nine people in three separate crucifixion sites took part in the extreme Catholic penitence, which the Church constantly rejects as unnecessary. — Reuters
