VATICAN CITY • Easter celebrations have made a quiet comeback around the world amid the coronavirus pandemic, with Pope Francis presiding over a scaled-back "Way of the Cross" service held in an empty St Peter's Square on Good Friday.

It was the second consecutive year the Via Crucis procession, commemorating the last hours of Jesus' life, was not held at Rome's ancient Colosseum since the modern-day Easter tradition was reintroduced by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

Candles in the form of a huge cross dotted an empty St Peter's Square as about 200 people took part, sitting on either side of the Pope in front of St Peter's Basilica.

Earlier on Friday, Pope Francis prostrated himself on the floor of St Peter's Basilica to pray at a "Passion of the Lord" service. He was due to say an Easter vigil Mass yesterday and today - Easter Sunday - he delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message.

In east Jerusalem, hundreds of faithful wound towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - the site of Christ's crucifixion and burial according to tradition - along the Via Dolorosa (Path of Sorrow) that snakes through the Old City. Usually, thousands participate in the procession tracing the route Christians believe Jesus walked carrying his cross before being crucified. Last year, as the pandemic was intensifying and with Jerusalem in its first of three coronavirus lockdowns, only four faithful retraced Christ's footsteps.

In Spain, keeping a Good Friday drumming tradition alive took on extra importance in Calanda. Dressed in vivid purple, participants played the drums in the streets as part of the "Rompida de la Hora" (Breaking of the hour). The drums boomed throughout this Spanish town of 3,700 inhabitants, but with all the players observing social distancing.

Meanwhile, the Latvian government reiterated "home-sitting" rules for Easter and Britons opted for a largely online celebration, with socially distanced egg hunts and virtual church services.

For some, the celebrations marked a milestone on the road to normalcy. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Ms Angele Percenita struggled to contain her tears, overwhelmed to be marking Good Friday in Jerusalem's Old City after last year's lockdown. A Filipina caregiver in Israel who said she has been inoculated against the coronavirus, she was one of hundreds of faithful who visited Christianity's holiest site on the day. "It's so, so much better than last year," she said.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA