"Faithful of the Legio Maria Church gathered through the night for Christmas vigils, marked by hours of prayer, drumming, healing rituals, processions and symbolic reenactments of Christ's birth in western Kenya. Footage from Siaya County shows worshippers praying in Latin and performing healing rituals on Christmas Eve. Prayers continued into Christmas Day, with a ceremony attended by Pope Raphael Adika. "Here we are celebrating Christmas," said Bishop Isaac Makhoka. "The birth of Jesus Christ has a lot of meaning to us Christians. First, it means the beginning of salvation. The journey of salvation started there when Christ was born." The Legio Maria Church is an African-initiated movement that emerged in 1963 after breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya. Central to its theology is the belief that Jesus Christ incarnated as a Black man. "We, as Legio Maria, believe in Jesus Christ who came to us in Black form," said Cardinal Andrew Otipa. "God has been revealing Himself to the human race in different forms. He appeared to Moses as fire in a burning bush." "Jesus is the only being that can empower somebody to use his power to heal people or to do miracles. So, when he came to us, after praying for us, we were empowered by that power. We can exorcise demons from people. We can pray for people and they get healed," the cardinal continued. Followers revere Baba Simeo Melkio Ondetto as the church's founder and revere him as the Black Messiah. While retaining selected Catholic traditions, the movement blends them with distinctly African religious practices."