Catholics celebrate Good Friday with masses, parades and processions.

In France, a public meditation is celebrated by Georges Pontier, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Paris, on the square in front of Notre Dame, in the presence of several dozen faithful, for the first time, three years after the fire that devastated the church.

Christians in Jerusalem mark Good Friday with a procession along the Via Dolorosa (Path of Sorrow) in Jerusalem's Old City, the route Christians believe Jesus walked while carrying his cross before being crucified.

Catholics in the Mexican town of Taxco celebrated Good Friday with an overnight procession, carrying crosses and flagellating themselves. The "encruzados" (The Crucified) carried large bundles of thorny branches tied to their shoulders.

They bore their heavy bundles to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross. The tradition dates back to 1622. Other devotees whip themselves in a flagellation rite, to signify sacrifice and