Faithful Christians around the world celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Sunday, from Vatican City where Pope Francis made a surprise appearance in his popemobile, to Ukraine, where a temporary Easter truce with Russia appeared in doubt in parts of the nation.
From war-torn Ukraine to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., people gathered for an annual celebration of Easter.
As with any religious holiday observed by such a wide variety of cultures, Easter celebrations come in many forms — although all focus on the crucifixion and resurrection story that is central to the Christian faith.
Photojournalists spanning the globe spread out to capture scenes from the day, the images below are a small selection of this variety of spiritual traditions.
Pope Francis tours St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile after bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Revelers wearing decorated hats and costumes participate in the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday, April 20, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Father Fadi Barkil holds a mass at a monastery for Easter on April 20, 2025 in Maaloula, Syria. In the wake of Syria’s civil war, there is a pervasive unease in Maaloula, an ancient town northeast of Damascus whose population is two-thirds Christian and one-third Muslim. There is widespread concern among Syrian Christians about the interim government’s ability to protect minority communities and ensure religious freedom. Meanwhile, Maaloula’s muslims have their own worries, after years in which they were barred from returning to the town by the Assad regime and a Christian militia with whom it collaborated. (Photo by Elke Scholiers/Getty Images)
Catholic nuns and others sing religious songs as they walk in a procession celebrating Easter Sunday commemorating the day when according to Christian tradition Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem two millennia ago, in Kolkata, India, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Worshippers gather for Easter Mass inside the ruins of St. George Melkite Catholic Church in Dardghaya, southern Lebanon, Sunday, April 20, 2025, after the church was heavily damaged in an Israeli airstrike earlier in the conflict. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Pope Francis appears on the central lodge of St. Peter’s Basilica to bestow the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Christian faithful of the Legio Maria African Mission, attend the Easter vigil Mass in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Participants take part in the Corgi Derby at Musselburgh Racecourse, Musselburgh, Scotland, Saturday, April 19, 2025, as part of its Easter Saturday race day celebration. (Lesley Martin/PA via AP)
Christian pilgrims and clergymen participate in the Easter Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where according to tradition Jesus was crucified and buried, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Easter baskets are seen inside baskets during celebration of the Orthodox Easter in Krasne village, Ukraine, on Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Couples dance as they enter the church building during mass Easter weddings for 3,000 people, some polygamous, at the International Pentecost Holiness Church, in Heidelberg, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
A Christian woman prays during midnight Easter Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Church, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
A priest blesses a girl and Easter baskets during the celebration of Orthodox Easter at Cross Lower Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/George Ivanchenko)
Participants march in the rain during the Easter parade in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
In this long exposure photo, Orthodox believers walk with candles around a church during Orthodox Easter midnight service in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Pontifical Swiss guards arrive for the Easter mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Believers and their baskets containing traditional cakes and painted eggs are blessed by Russian Orthodox priest Father Veniamin, in preparation for an Easter celebration at the St. Boris and Gleb Monastery in the old Russian town of Dmitrov, some 70 km (44 miles) north of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Christian Orthodox worshippers attend the Easter Sunday Resurrection liturgy, marking the end of the Holy Week at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Ukrainian Roman Catholic believers celebrate Easter in a cathedral in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
Dean of the College of Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re baptizes a woman as he leads the Easter vigil inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
An elderly woman prepares her Easter baskets to be blessed during celebration of the Orthodox Easter in Krasne village, Ukraine, on Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Catholics carry a statue of Jesus Christ during an Easter procession in Panama City’s Casco Viejo, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Egyptian Coptic Christians attend the Resurrection Mass at the Monastery of Saint Simon Al-Kharaz during Holy Saturday services on April 19, 2025 in Cairo, Egypt. The Coptic Church observes the same liturgical calendar as the Eastern Orthodox Church, whose Easter date coincides with that of the Western Christian calendar this year.(Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
A Christian Orthodox worshipper attends the Easter Sunday Resurrection liturgy, marking the end of the Holy Week at the Hagia Triada church, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
