Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula issued a decree on October 3, 2024 renaming the host church and the image to Jesus Nazareno to "further focus the people on the holy name of our Lord than a color or attribute".

[9] The image's wooden base is referred to as the peana while its carriage or carroza used in processions is called the ándas (from the Spanish andar, "to move forward").

[10] The Señor Cabeza is a famed image previously maintained by Catholic priest, Father Emmanuel del Rosario of the Diocese of Cubao who also was a devotee of the Black Nazarene.

Filipino Catholic theologian and church historian Monsignor Sabino Vengco, meanwhile, claims that the image is not charred, but is in fact dark through to its core, being carved from mesquite wood.

Vengco based this claim on personal research in Mexico, where he said mesquite wood was a popular medium in the period the image was carved.

It allegedly caused a hysterical commotion that led to the shooter's death and left a gunshot mark on the cheek of the Nazareno which has remained unrestored by pious popular demand.

[15] However, public historian Xiao Chua interviewed Eugenio “Boy” Jongco, former president of the Hijos de Nazareno - Central and a witness of the event, to confirm the story.

[16][17] The Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno wears a braided wig made of dark, dyed abacá, along with a golden Crown of Thorns.

These three rayos ("rays"), likely an angular variant of the cruciform halo, are used exclusively for and proper to images of Jesus Christ in traditional Filipino and Hispanic iconography to signify his divinity.

Jesus is shown barefoot and in a genuflecting posture, symbolising the agony and the weight of the Cross, along with the overall pain Christ endured during his Passion.

The image is dressed in a heavy velvet tunic of maroon, embroidered with floral and plant designs using gold thread, and trimmed with a matching set of white lace collar and cuffs.

Around the waist is a gold-plated metal belt embossed with the word "NAZARENO", while a golden chain ending in spheres is looped around the neck and held in the left hand, representing the Flagellation of Christ.

Veneration of the Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno is rooted among Filipinos who strongly identify with the passion and suffering of Christ the image depicts.

Some believers practice walking in barefoot as a form of piety while others make an effort to ride on the carriage in the belief of obtaining graces from the devotional image.

[24] The hymn Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno was composed by National Artist of the Philippines, Lucio San Pedro to honor the image.

The image is also prominently featured on the front cover of Pabasa books, a Lenten manual hymn commemorating the life and Passion of Jesus Christ.

[26] Elizabeth Pisares also states that this is a revised idolatry of pre-colonial times, and suggests its link with social disparities among Filipinos.