Millions of Christians around the world are marking Christmas Day - the traditional day of Christ's birth. In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the Biblical site of Jesus' birth, thousands of worshippers gathered to celebrate midnight Mass.
Local officials in Bethlehem say double the number of pilgrims have visited this year compared to last. In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a special Mass in St Peter's Basilica, watched by thousands of pilgrims. Those who were unable to join the congregation filling the church watched the Mass on giant video screens in the square instead.
A new floodlit Nativity scene was officially unveiled in the square in front of the Basilica. This year the larger-than-life-size statues of the baby Jesus and his family have been placed in a Nativity scene set not in a Bethlehem stable, but in a room in Joseph's house in Nazareth .
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