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Devout: Villagers in Guwahati, India sing hymns as a devotee dressed as Jesus Christ reenacts the crucifixion

Suffering: Indian devotees reenact the crucifixion to atone for their sins in Gauhati

Indian Catholics re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ during a 'passion play' tableau at the Sacred Heart Church in the city of Secunderabad

Whipped: An Indian Christian dressed as Jesus Christ is whipped as he carries a cross during Good Friday procession in Hyderabad

Crown of thorns: An Indian Christian carries a cross through the streets of Mumbai

About two dozen Filipinos were nailed to crosses in an extreme display of devotion that the Catholic church looks down upon as a form of folk religion but appears powerless to stop.

The re-enactment of the passion of Jesus Christ draws thousands of tourists to the Pampanga region, 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, to watch barefoot penitents flagellate themselves and a series of crucifixions on an artificial hill.

The practice, which took hold in the province about 60 years ago as form of religious vow by poor people seeking forgiveness, a cure for illness and the fulfilment of other wishes.

Real pain: Filipino christian Ruben Enaje, 53, is nailed to a wooden cross during the re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday in San Fernando, Pampanga province

Pain and suffering: A man portraying Christ winces as as he carries a cross through the streets of Mandaluyong, east of Manila, Philippines

Mob: Actors dressed as Romans carry Jesus, played by devout Christian Ruben Enaje, 53, along a dusty track in San Fernando, Pampanga province, north of Manila

A Filipino Christian devotee is nailed to a wooden cross at Cutud, Pampanga province, northern Philippines

Show of faith: A Filipino penitent has his foot nailed to the cross during Good Friday rituals at San Jose, Pampanga province, northern Philippines

Filipino Wilfredo Salvador, 57, was one of around two dozen Fillipinos to really be nailed to crosses to mark Good Friday

Ruben Enaje, 52, portraying Jesus Christ for the 27th time, hangs on a cross beside two other Christians portraying Dismas and Gestas, after he was nailed to the cross in San Pedro Cutud town, Pampanga province, north of Manila

Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said the gory practice was a distortion of Christ's teachings of love and selfless service. But he conceded that the church could not stop the ritual that he described as 'popular piety'.

Another bishop said people had to understand the folk Catholicism widely practiced in the Philippines, which has the largest Christian population in Asia. About 80 percent of its 96 million people are Catholic.

'We are in no position to suppress them,' Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David told Reuters.

'I do not think it is right to close our doors to them just because they are more attracted to these folk practices than to our Roman liturgy which they may find too foreign or cerebral.' 

Flagellation, crawling and nails in hands in extreme Easter...

Burden: Indonesians take part in a re-enactment of the crucifixion at the Raja Agung church

Indonesian Christians take part in a re-enactment of the Stations Of The Cross on Good Friday at the Raja Agung church on March 29, 2013 in Bintan Island, Indonesia

Catholics make up approximately 3 per cent of the population of the predominantly Muslim country of Indonesia

An Indonesian Catholic looks celebrates Good Friday by taking part in a a reenactment of the crucifixion

Young Indonesian Christians join in the reenactment at the Raja Agung church in Bintan Island

Dozen of Indonesian Catholics follow in procession during a re-enactment of the crucifixion in Magelang, Central Java

An Indonesian Christian devotees carries a bamboo cross as he walks with others on a rice field in Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia

Devotees, insisting they were prepared to endure pain as penance, had 5-inch stainless steel nails driven into their hands. Then, for a few minutes, they were hanged on wooded crosses.

'We do this because of our faith not because we're paid,' Ruben Inaje, a house painter who has played the role of Christ for 27 years, told Reuters.

'Two years ago, I said it would be the last time I'd do it. But every time I say that, my wife gets sick. I guess God wants me to continue this sacrifice as a lifetime vow,' he said before taking up a 50 kg (110 lb) cross and heading to the crucifixion site.

A circus-like atmosphere prevailed on a sun-drenched day.

'It's my first time to witness a man being crucified,' said Charlotte Johansen, 26, a Norwegian non-government organisation worker, was taking pictures with her friends.

David Carnell, plays the part of Jesus Christ during a 'Journey to the Cross' procession to celebrate Good Friday in Sydney, Australia

The annual event by Sydeny's Wesley Mission tells the Easter story in a modern Australia

The village of Cutud has built the hill with three crosses for the main ceremony with crucifixions also taking place in two nearby villages.

Souvenir and food vendors staked out the hill and people selling ice-cream and sodas wandered among the crowd.

'The crucifixions here have become a purely tourism event,' said an official from the area, who handles accreditation for the flock of journalists which descends every year.

Christ is led to his crucifixion in Bensheim, central Germany

Germany: An actor depicted Jesus is carried on the cross by a group of Romans in Bensheim, central Germany

A pilgrim carries a cross as she looks out across the sea during the Northern Cross pilgrimage as it makes its final leg of the journey to Holy Island, Berwick Upon Tweed

Pilgrims carry their wooden crosses as the Northern Cross pilgrimage makes its final leg of the journey to Holy Island

Christian pilgrims carry the Easter Cross over the snow covered fields to head to a small Good Friday service at St Andrews Church near Kiln Pit Hill, Northumberland

Christian pilgrims are pictured in Northumberland as Britain braces for one of the coldest Easter weekends on record

In Jerusalem's Old City Hundreds of Christians streamed through the cobblestone alleyways of hoisting wooden crosses and chanting prayers.

Throngs of pilgrims walked a traditional Good Friday procession that retraces Jesus' steps along the Via Dolorosa, Latin for the 'Way of Suffering.' They followed his 14 stations, saying a prayer at each and ending at the ancient Holy Sepulcher church.

Along the route, Franciscan friars in brown robes chanted prayers in Latin and explained the different stations to crowds through a megaphone.

The crucifixion is re-enacted along the path where it is believed Jesus once walked now known as the 'Via Dolorosa', or the 'Way of Suffering'

An actor playing Christ is attached to a cross during a reenactment of the crucifixion in Jerusalem's Old City

Christian worshippers carry a cross towards the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, during the Good Friday procession in Jerusalem's Old City

Passionate: Jesus carries a cross during a re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross at the Sanctuary of Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico

Students playing Roman soldiers lead a man playing Jesus at the Sanctuary of Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico

The New Mexico students are part of a youth group from Our Lady of Sorrows church in Bernalillo, which re-enacts the Stations of the Cross every year

Suffering: Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter

Leonard Mary, a priest from Irondale, Alabama, was dressed as Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. He was flanked by men posing as Roman soldiers and had fake blood dripping down his chest as he lugged a giant cross down the street.

'The most perfect love that was ever seen in the world was when Jesus died for us. He showed us the perfection of love,' said Mary.

Good Friday events kicked off with a Mass earlier in the morning at the cavernous Holy Sepulcher, which was built on the place where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and resurrected.

Members of a religious brotherhood take part in a procession at la Laguna in Tenerife

A prisoner who will receive a pardon carries a cross as he takes part in a procession on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife

Penitents of the 'Nuestra Senora del Rosario' brotherhood prepare their costumes prior to taking part in the Tenerife procession

Members of the 'Nuestra Senora del Rosario' brotherhood prepare to take part in a procession in La Laguna

Clergy dressed in colorful robes entered through the church's large wooden doors as worshippers prayed in the church courtyard.

Later Friday, a Mass was due in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, built atop the traditional site of Jesus' birth. Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday.

Roman Catholic and Protestant congregations that observe the new, Gregorian calendar, mark Easter week this week. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark Good Friday in May.

Less than 2 percent of the population of Israel and the Palestinian territories is Christian, mostly split between Catholicism and Orthodox streams of Christianity. Christians in the West Bank wanting to attend services in Jerusalem must obtain permission from Israeli authorities.

Israel's Tourism Ministry said it expects some 150,000 visitors in Israel during Easter week and the Jewish festival of Passover, which coincide this year.