People look at a large screen at The Place, a shopping mall on December Eve in Beijing, China
In China, Christmas lights hung from trees outside the Xuanwumen Catholic Church as Chinese Catholics arrived for a Christmas Eve mass in Beijing.
Christians in China attend church masses as they prepare to celebrate the religious holiday to commemorate the birth of Christ.
Pope Benedict XVI marked Christmas Eve with Mass in St Peter's Basilica and a pressing question: Will people find room in their hectic, technology-driven lives for children, the poor and God?
The pontiff also prayed that Israelis and Palestinians live in peace and freedom, and asked the faithful to pray for strife-torn Syria as well as Lebanon and Iraq.
The ceremony began at 10pm local time with the blare of trumpets, meant to symbolise Christian joy over the news of Christ's birth in Bethlehem.
As midnight neared, church bells tolled throughout Rome, while inside the basilica, the sweet voices of the Vatican's boys' choir resounded joyously.
Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican traditionally began at midnight, but the start time was moved up years ago so as to give the 85-year-old pontiff more time to rest before his Christmas Day speech.
That address is to be delivered at midday tomorrow from the basilica's central balcony.
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