Photos: Easter Services Around The World

By Wynne Davis

Published April 21, 2019 at 3:35 PM CDT

Christian faithful of the Legio Maria African Mission Church hold candles as they attend the Easter vigil Mass in their church in Nairobi, Kenya.

Christians around the world gathered on Sunday to mark the end of Holy Week and celebrate Easter.

Festivities took on many forms. While some worshippers reenacted the Passion of the Christ, others gathered for candlelit services or colorful processions.

For many Christians, this year's holiday was a more somber affair. In Paris, the fire the engulfed Notre Dame this past week forced worshippers to find other places to attend services. In Sri Lanka, celebrations were shattered Sunday morning with a series of explosions that ripped through multiple churches and hotels, killing nearly 300 people and injuring hundreds more.

Speaking at the Vatican, Pope Francis addressed the tragedy and the lives lost.

"I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence," he said. "I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed and pray for the injured and all those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event."

The pope also spoke about conflicts in other areas of the world and urged leaders to work together to find peaceful resolutions.

An aerial picture shows sawdust rugs decorating a street in the Brazilian historic city of Ouro Preto, in the state of Minas Gerais, before an Easter procession representing the resurrection of Christ. The streets are decorated by locals and tourists who use about 60 tons of colored sawdust.

Syriac Orthodox pilgrims carry palm branches during the Palm Sunday procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City.

A relative of a Sri Lankan victim of an explosion at a church weeps outside a hospital in Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka on Easter.

Pakistani Christians in Karachi light candles to pay tribute to victims of the Sri Lankan attacks.

Residents dress up with a colorful local version of Roman soldiers as they celebrate Easter in Mogpog in Marinduque, Philippines.

An Armenian Orthodox Christian woman kisses the cross during the Easter Mass at a church in the Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is presented with flowers after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England.

Christian devotees reenact the Way of the Cross, or Jesus Christ's passion, during a Good Friday commemoration in the Kibera slum of Nairobi on Friday.

People attend Mass in tribute to the Notre Dame Cathedral at the Saint Eustache church in Paris on Easter.

A member of the faithful takes part in the procession of the Via Crucis in Managua, Nicaragua, on Friday.

Armenian priests wave censers as Bishop Sivan, second from the left, looks on during the Palm Sunday procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City.

Worshippers gather to follow Pope Francis celebrating Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

Statues of the Passion of the Christ are carried during the traditional Easter Procession of the Mysteries (Processione Dei Misteri) in Trapani, Sicily, on Saturday.

Worshippers queue to attend the Notre Dame Easter Mass at the church of St. Eustache in Paris. Notre Dame's Easter service was held at the nearby church following the fire that caused extensive damage to the historic landmark.

Pope Francis holds an altar candle as he arrives to preside over the Easter Vigil on Saturday at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.