MABALACAT CITY, Philippines - Catholics in the northern Philippine province of Pampanga, many bare-chested and hooded, practice self-flagellation in the sweltering heat in the week before Easter to ...

Hundreds of half-naked Filipinos marched on narrow roads, whipping their backs until they were bloody in a religious ritual Thursday as the mainly Roman Catholic state observed the Lenten season.

MANILA, April 2 (Reuters) - Barefoot and with their backs bloodied by repeated flogging, Catholic devotees in the Philippines defied a ban on gatherings on Good Friday to perform a ritual of ...