Across the globe, people celebrated Easter Sunday — commemorating the day when, according to Christian tradition, Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem two millennia ago.
In India, Christian families lit candles and placed flowers on the graves of their loved ones in the early morning in Purulia, West Bengal.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis presided over Easter Sunday Mass in a flower-decked St. Peter’s Square and delivered a heartfelt prayer for peace in his annual roundup of global crises. Francis rallied from a winter-long bout of respiratory problems to lead some 60,000 people in Easter celebrations, making a strong appeal for a cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine.
In Ukraine, clerics read prayers before lighting the holy fire during the Easter religious service at the St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Kyiv.
In Israel, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa led the Easter Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The medieval church in the Old City is the holy site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. In years past, the church has been packed with worshippers and tourists. But the bloody conflict in Gaza, now into its sixth month, has seen a huge downturn in tourism and pilgrimages across Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In Britain, King Charles III joined the queen and other members of the royal family for an Easter service at Windsor Castle in his most significant public outing since he was diagnosed with cancer last month.
And in the U.S., revelers wearing decorated hats and costumes participated in the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
In Washington, worshipers prayed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during a sunrise Easter service.