Catholics and other Christians around the world set up Nativity scenes, decorated enormous Christmas trees, lit candles, and played hymns to celebrate one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar: The birth of Christ. Here is a sample of some of the holy day’s manifestations.
A same-sex couple is pictured in a file photo exchanging rings during a ceremony in Salt Lake City. The Vatican’s doctrinal office says in a new note that any form of blessing of same-sex unions is “illicit,” but that the negative judgment is on the blessing of unions, not the people, who must be respected. (Credit: Jim Urquhar/Reuters, via CNS).
Pope Francis laughs as he speaks to journalists aboard his flight from Cairo to Rome April 29. Also pictured are Father Mauricio Rueda Beltz, papal trip organizer, and Greg Burke, Vatican spokesman. (Credit: Paul Haring/CNS.)
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks back towards 10 Downing Street following a cabinet meeting in London, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (Credit: Frank Augstein/AP.)
Saad Faraq, 43, a Christian Peshmerga fighters poses for a portrait in a camp where Christians displaced by Islamic State militants are living, in Irbil, Iraq, Friday, Dec. 23, 2016. Iraq’s Christians are marking the holiday in his camp for displaced people with a sense of worry and despair, unable to return to their towns they were forced to flee two years ago by the Islamic State group’s onslaught. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)