A young Iraqi Christian poses in front of a Nativity scene displayed in a tent erected in the grounds of the Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church where Iraqi Christians, who fled the violence in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, have erected tents on December 24, 2014, in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq. For many faithful across the region, the Christmas festivities will be tinged with sadness following a year of bloodshed marked by a surge in the persecution of Christians that has drawn international condemnation. PHOTO | AFP