Iraq
Iraqi Christians attend an Easter Sunday Service at the Virgin Mary Chaldean Christian church on April 8, 2012. Christians around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter to commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. AFP PHOTO/SABAH ARAR (Photo credit should read SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images)
Malawi
A youg boy prays on Easter Sunday service at an outdoor church on April 8, 2012 in Lilongwe. Malawi’s new President Joyce Banda was sworn in smoothly yesterday just hours after officials confirmed the death two days earlier of president Bingu wa Mutharika whose rule had sparked alarms over democratic freedoms and economic mismanagement. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN (Photo credit should read STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images) Women pray and sing on Easter Sunday service at an outdoor church on April 8, 2012 in Lilongwe. Malawi’s new President Joyce Banda was sworn in smoothly yesterday just hours after officials confirmed the death two days earlier of president Bingu wa Mutharika whose rule had sparked alarms over democratic freedoms and economic mismanagement. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN (Photo credit should read STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images)
People attend an Easter Sunday service at an outdoor church in Lilongwe on April 8, 2012. Malawi’s new President Joyce Banda was sworn in smoothly yesterday just hours after officials confirmed the death two days earlier of president Bingu wa Mutharika whose rule had sparked alarms over democratic freedoms and economic mismanagement. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN (Photo credit should read STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images)
Gaza
A Palestinian Christian Orthodox priest leads an Easter Sunday Service in Gaza City on April 8, 2012. Christians around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter to commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images) Palestinian Christian Catholics attend an Easter Sunday Service in Gaza City on April 8, 2012. Christians around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter to commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)
Bellarus
Belarussian Catholics attend a procession celebrating Easter in the small town of Ivenets, some 70 kilometers west from Minsk on April 8, 2012. AFP PHOTO/ VIKTOR DRACHEV (Photo credit should read VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images)
Jerusalem
Roman Catholic clergymen hold candles as they circle the aedicule during Easter Sunday mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s old city on April 8, 2012. Christians traditionally believe the church is built on the site where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. AFP PHOTO/GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal (C), leads the Easter Sunday procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s old city on April 8, 2012. Christians traditionally believe the church is built on the site where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. AFP PHOTO/GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)
Sudan
A Christian boy sits next to the bibles during an Easter Sunday Service with very few attendees in the capital Khartoum on April 8, 2012 as many of the South Sudanese Christians already returned to the south. The deadline for the South Sudanese fell on Easter Sunday to leave Sudan or formalise their status in the country as an estimated 500,000 of them remain in Sudan, waiting for clear direction on what to do. AFP PHOTO/ASHRAF SHAZLY (Photo credit should read ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)
Easter In Khartoum
An Easter Sunday Service is held with very few attendees in a church in the capital Khartoum on April 8, 2012 as many of the South Sudanese Christians already returned to the south. The deadline for the South Sudanese fell on Easter Sunday to leave Sudan or formalise their status in the country as an estimated 500,000 of them remain in Sudan, waiting for clear direction on what to do. AFP PHOTO/ASHRAF SHAZLY (Photo credit should read ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)
Germany
BAUTZEN, GERMANY – APRIL 08: Easter riders sing as they parade
on horseback on April 08, 2012 in Wittichenau near Bautzen, Germany. Sorbians, a Slavic minority in eastern Germany, celebrate Easter with processions of mounted riders dressed in 19th-century outfits who travel from village to village to sing and announce the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sorbians speak their own language, Sorbian, which is related to Czech and Polish, and maintain a culture rich in traditions, theatre, literature, poetry, education, media and crafts. Since the dissolution of the former East Germany in 1989 Sorbians have seen the unity of their ethnicity eroded as young Sorbians have begun to leave for the big cities and government subsidies to their institutions have been cut. Approximately 1,500 Sorbian men participate in the annual Easter riding. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)
China
Chinese Catholics pray as they attend an Easter service at the historic South Cathedral in Beijing on April 7, 2012. Easter ceremonies traditionally stress the suffering of the Catholic Church and the world, an emphasis that is being particularly keenly felt this year with multiple conflicts around the world and tensions within the Church. The Holy Week celebrations take place amid concerns over the fate of Christians in the Middle East in the face of rising Islamism and violent conflict, especially in Syria which has a large Christian minority. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
Vatican
VATICAN CITY, VATICAN – APRIL 08: Pope Benedict XVI delivers his ‘Urbi et Orbi’ message and blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of the Easter Mass on April 8, 2012 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
Philippines
Roman Catholic devotees hold candles as they line a procession route for an icon of the Virgin Mary outside a Catholic church on Easter Sunday in Quezon City suburban Manila on April 7, 2012. Christian believers around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. AFP PHOTO / JAY DIRECTO (Photo credit should read JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images) Philippine schoolchildren dressed as angels sing as they take part in a religious procession outside a Catholic church in Quezon City suburban Manila on April 8, 2012 to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. Christian believers around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. AFP PHOTO / JAY DIRECTO (Photo credit should read JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistan
Pakistan Catholic devotees attend an Easter Sunday Service in Islamabad on April 8, 2012. Christian believers around the world are marking the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistan Catholic devotees walk through a security device as they arrive to attend an Easter Sunday Service at a church in Islamabad on April 8, 2012. Christian believers around the world are marking the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. AFP PHOTO/Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistan Catholic devotees attend an Easter Sunday Service in Islamabad on April 8, 2012. Christian believers around the world are marking the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)
England
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, arrives for the Easter day service at Canterbury Cathedral, southeastern England, Sunday April 8, 2012. Dr Williams has warned against downgrading the status of religious education in secondary schools in his last Easter sermon as leader of the Church of England. He told the congregation at Canterbury Cathedral that young people’s hostility towards faith is not as extreme as society perceives with many taking the issue of religion seriously. And he argued a number of youngsters appreciate the role it plays in shaping and sustaining human existence and are keen to learn about it. (AP Photo/PA, Gareth Fuller) UNITED KINGDOM OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVE
Spain
Members of ‘Jesus Atado a la Columna’ confraternity play drums during the traditional ‘Tamborrada’, celebrating Holy Week Resurrection Day, at Mayor Square in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, April 8, 2012. Hundreds of processions take place throughout Spain during the Easter Holy Week. (AP Photo/Alberto Di Lolli) Members of ‘Jesus Atado a la Columna’ confraternity play drums during the traditional ‘Tamborrada’, celebrating Holy Week Resurrection Day, at Mayor Square in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, April 8, 2012. Hundreds of processions take place throughout Spain during the Easter Holy Week. (AP Photo/Alberto Di Lolli)
Mexico
The “Judas” alebrije is placed in the atrium of the Santa Rosa Xochiac church to be burned in Mexico City, Saturday, April 7, 2012. Each year the family Espinosa has huge puppets made to stage the burning of Judas after the Eucharistic celebration in the Catholic tradition. The Burning of Judas is an Easter-time ritual in many communities, where an effigy of Judas Iscariot is hanged on Good Friday, then burned on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Christian Palma) Residents of Santa Rosa Xochiac town watch the burning of “Judas Iscariot” as charro in Mexico City, Saturday, April 7, 2012. The Burning of Judas is an Easter-time ritual in many communities, where an effigy of Judas Iscariot is hanged on Good Friday, then burned on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Christian Palma) 