In pictures: World celebrates Christmas
- Published
Services are being held around the world as Christians mark the birth of Christ.
Here is our selection of some of the best images so far.

At a Christmas Eve Mass in the Vatican, Pope Francis urged more "sharing and giving", denouncing the "insatiable greed" of modern consumerism


In Egypt, this little girl listened attentively during a church service in Cairo


Celebrations were held at this church in Fuyang, China's eastern Anhui province


Indian Christians took part in prayers at the Infant Jesus Church in Bangalore


This woman prayed during a Christmas service at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in the Pakistani city of Lahore


People queued at this church in Bangkok to touch the baby Jesus doll in its Nativity scene


These altar boys played a key role during celebrations in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo


A young boy, part of a group of thousands of migrants travelling from Central America to the US, celebrated at a shelter in Tijuana, Mexico


A Mass on Christmas Eve was held at a stadium in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city


Members of a Berlin swimming club took their traditional Christmas bath at the city's Orankesee lake


Meanwhile, this couple kissed by a Christmas tree in Istanbul, Turkey


Families at Sydney's Bondi Beach celebrated in the middle of the southern hemisphere's summer


A Christian community attended a Mass at Santa Maria Church in Dubai, United Arab Emirates


In France, so-called "yellow vests" protesters held a service at a roundabout in the northern town of Somain

All photographs belong to the copyright holders as marked.