Baclaran Church — officially the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help — is one of the most visited Catholic sites in Asia. The Redemptorist fathers built the current modernist structure in the 1950s, though the devotion to the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at this location predates it. The church holds the extraordinary distinction of conducting its famous Wednesday novena to a congregation that regularly numbers in the tens of thousands.
Even outside of Wednesdays, the church is worth visiting. The surrounding Baclaran area is a world of its own: vendors, pilgrims, food stalls, and the sprawling Baclaran Market press in from every side. The scale of devotion on display is striking, and the architecture of the main nave — designed to hold enormous crowds — is quietly impressive.