Easter 2017 celebrations across the world in pictures

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Christians in Karachi celebrate Easter, the day Jesus was resurrected. The Pakistani police foiled a plan to bomb a Easter celebration on Saturday. AP/PTI

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Christians in Karachi celebrate Easter, the day Jesus was resurrected. The Pakistani police foiled a plan to bomb a Easter celebration on Saturday. AP/PTI

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Pope Francis presided over the solemn late-night ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica at a time of heightened security fears following a spate of Islamic-inspired attacks and tensions over Europe’s migrant influx. Reuters

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Security was particularly tight, part of the heavier-than-usual safety measures that have been deployed around the world for Holy Week activities, particularly following the twin Palm Sunday attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt that killed at least 45 people. Reuters

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Saturday’s late-night service came just hours after Francis presided over the evocative torch-lit Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum, where he repeatedly denounced the “shame” of the blood spilled by innocent children, women and migrants in the world’s conflicts, shipwrecks and other tragedies. Reuters

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Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, conducts the Orthodox Easter service at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia.

RTS12H4C Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with his wife Svetlana attend the Patriarchal Easter service in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral at midnight. Reuters

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Iraqi Christians attend an Easter celebration at St.George Chaldean Church in Baghdad.With Islamic State expelled, Iraqi Christians are trickling back to the ransacked town of Qaraqosh, beset by anxiety for their security and yet hopeful they can live in friendship with Muslims of all persuasions. Reuters

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It is believed that one must bake something on Easter, as the comforting smell of fresh baking at Easter heralds the arrival of newness and lifts the spirits after Lent. Reuters

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Christians consider eggs to be “the seed of life” and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets of candy and also hunt for eggs all around the house. Reuters

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