Holy Week around the world in photos

AP PHOTOS: Holy Week celebrations around the world

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Luiz Henrique, playing the role of Jesus Christ, carries a cross during a Way of the Cross reenactment as part of Holy Week celebrations, at the Complexo do Alemao favela in Rio de Janeiro, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

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Christians reenact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Guwahati, India, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

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A member of the St Francis Catholic Church holds a rosary as they take part in a Way of the Cross re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ during Holy Week in Lagos, Nigeria, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

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Christian pilgrims carry crosses during a Holy Week procession in the Old City of Jerusalem on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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Claudio Armando Ramirez plays the role of Jesus Christ during a Palm Sunday Passion Play at the San Lucas de Iztapalapa parish in Mexico City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

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A priest blesses people with water before a Palm Sunday Mass at the sanctuary in Luque, Paraguay, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

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Performers dressed as Roman soldiers walk around town as they reenact the passion and sufferings of Jesus Christ as part of their lenten practice to mark Maundy Thursday, April 17, 2025 in Paete town, Laguna province, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Ethiopian Orthodox Christian worshippers visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the place where Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected, in the Old City of Jerusalem on Holy Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

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A Christian woman kisses a crucifix during a Holy Week service at St. Anthony Church in Lahore, Pakistan, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

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Catholic clergymen take part in a Holy Week ceremony reenacting the funeral of Jesus Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where according to tradition Jesus was crucified and buried, in the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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Light streams through windows as worshippers pray during the Good Friday celebration of the Lord’s Passion and Adoration of the Holy Cross at St. Joseph Abbey near Covington, La., Friday, April 18, 2025. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

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A priest washes the foot of a parishioner during a Holy Week Mass in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

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A Greek Christian Orthodox priest carries a wooden cross during the service of the Holy Passion at the Patriarchal Church of St. George, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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Catholics carry a statue of Jesus Christ at a Holy Week procession in Panama City’s Casco Viejo, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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People are showered with flower petals are thrown from balconies during a Holy Week procession in Seville, Spain, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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A penitent holds his six-month-old son during a Holy week procession in Seville, Spain, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Catholics attend a Holy Week procession in Panama City’s Casco Viejo, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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Faithful attend the Way of the Cross procession, inside the Colosseum in Rome, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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An actor portraying Jesus Christ carries a cross during a Way of the Cross reenactment during Holy Week celebrations in the Kibera informal settlement of Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

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A parishioner leaves the Santuario de la Virgen de Lourdes after prayers during Holy Week in Santiago, Chile, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

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A penitent flagellates himself during a Holy Week event in Kalayaan town, Laguna province, Philippines, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Members of the Danza Señor San Jose dance group perform behind El Santuario De Chimayo in Northern New Mexico during Holy Week on Good Friday, Chimayo, N.M., April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

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People watch a Holy Week procession in Havana, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

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A member of a brotherhood performs in a Way of the Cross reenactment in Pachacamac, Peru, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

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Children leave after posing for a photo with Iraq-born Archbishop Datev Hagopian during a Maundy Thursday religious service, at the Armenian Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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A man cuts the back of a penitent using a blade as he prepares to flagellate himself during Holy Week in Kalayaan town, Laguna province, Philippines, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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Tzotziles Indigenous men prepare to take part in a Holy Week procession, at the San Lorenzo Martir Church in Zinacantan, Chiapas State, Mexico, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Isabel Mateos)

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A masked penitent in chains with cacti attached to his arms takes part in a Holy Week procession in Atlixco, Mexico, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

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A masked penitent in chains holds out his arms to have cacti attached to his arm, before taking part in a Holy Week procession in Atlixco, Mexico, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

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Penitents take part in the Procession of Souls during Holy Week in Goias, Brazil, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

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Worshipers react in tears while looking at the Christ of ‘El Cerro’ brotherhood as they process through the streets of Seville, during Holy Week in Spain, Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Luiz Henrique, playing the role of Jesus Christ, hangs on a cross during a Way of the Cross reenactment as part of Holy Week celebrations, at the Complexo do Alemao favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

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Seen through a public bus window, a penitent depicting the role of Jesus Christ, carries a cross during the Via Crucis or Way of the Cross reenactment in Panama City, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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Orthodox believers visit Bachkovo Monastery during the Holy Thursday liturgy in Bachkovo, Bulgaria, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

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Faithful watch a Holy Week procession by the penitents from the ‘San Gonzalo’ brotherhood in Seville, Spain, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Faithful watch a ‘Santa Genoveva’ brotherhood Holy Week procession in Seville, Spain, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Actors reenact the crucifixion of Jesus during a Way of The Cross procession during Holy Week in Atyra, Paraguay, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

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A penitent depicting the role of Jesus Christ is whipped by a fellow devotee playing the role of a Roman soldier, during a Way of the Cross reenactment, as part of Holy Week celebrations in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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A penitent depicting the role of Jesus Christ is crowned by a fellow devotees playing the role of Roman soldiers, during the Via Crucis or Way of the Cross reenactment in Panama City, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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Members of the St Francis Catholic Church take part in a Way of the Cross re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ during Holy Week in Lagos, Nigeria, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

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Catholic worshippers hold candles as they take part in a procession following a path believed to be taken when Jesus was arrested and brought to trial, during the Holy Week, outside the Old City of Jerusalem, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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Christian pilgrims carry crosses during a Holy Week procession at the Old City of Jerusalem on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

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A penitent knows as a “cucurucho” joins a Way of the Cross procession during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, on Good Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Christians are celebrating Holy Week with processions and reenactments in places like Jerusalem, Brazil, Nigeria, India, Mexico and Philippines.

The week between Palm Sunday and Easter, known as Holy Week, is the most sacred time of the year for Christians, when the faithful commemorate the passion of Jesus.

___

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Olympic Hightlights

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FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

2 of 7 |

FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

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FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

4 of 7 |

Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

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USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)