Christmas 2019: Pope Francis leads mass at Vatican's St Peter's Basilica; festivities kick off around the world
The last event to interrupt Christmas Mass at Notre Dame was the French Revolution, according to Karine Dalle, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Paris.
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Pope Francis celebrated Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on 24 December. The pope celebrated a solemn Christmas Eve Mass for thousands of people as others watched on large screen outside. AP
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Pope Francis held a statue of Baby Jesus as he left after celebrating Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. “Christmas reminds us that God continues to love us all, even the worst of us,” Francis, presiding at the seventh Christmas season of his pontificate, said in his sermon. AP
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People walked in Red Square decorated for Christmas and New Year celebrations, with the St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower, center, in the background in Moscow, Russia. AP
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The acting Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa led a Christmas midnight mass in the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on 25 December, 2019. The Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born, hosted Palestinian dignitaries and pilgrims from around the world for the midnight Mass. AP
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Believers the christmas mass, in Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois church, in Paris, on Tuesday. Notre Dame Cathedral is unable to host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution, because the Paris landmark was too deeply damaged by this year’s fire. AP
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The last event to interrupt Christmas Mass at Notre Dame was the French Revolution, according to Karine Dalle, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Paris. Records show that priests have celebrated the birth of Jesus at the cathedral every year since 1803, when they got the building back, she said. Services continued even through the Nazi occupation, from 1940 through 1944. AP
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Indians light candles outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Christmas eve in New Delhi on Tuesday. Though the Hindus and Muslims comprise majority of the population in India, Christmas is a national holiday celebrated with much fanfare. AP
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