In certain areas of the world, Christians are having a difficult Christmas Eve, especially in Iraq and Pakistan.

In Pakistan, there were no Christmas decorations at the camp built 350km southwest of Islamabad to accommodate Christians which were chased from their homes by sectarian violence this year. Some said they had received threatening text messages promising a "Christmas Special", and feared that their tents would be torched or their church would be targeted by a bomb.

In Iraq, the Christian minority was forced to celebrate Christmas more discreetly than usual because of the climate of violence in the country, where attacks on Thursday killed at least  27 people, mainly Shiite pilgrims. Christmas this year coincides with Ashura, one of the highlights of the Shiite calendar.

In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus according to Christian tradition, Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch gave the starting signal of the annual Christmas festivities, heading a procession. Archbishop Fouad Twal prayed for peace in the Middle East, and for the day, he said, that Palestinians will no longer be confined behind walls erected by Israel.