Photos of the Week

This week’s gallery includes the UMC General Conference, the start of Carnival, and more.

Bodyguards of the emir of Daura make traditional Muslim Friday prayers outside the central mosque as the emir prays inside in Daura, the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari, in northern Nigeria, on Feb. 22, 2019. Nigerians went to the polls for a presidential election Saturday, Feb. 23, one week after a surprise delay for Africa's largest democracy. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s gallery includes the UMC General Conference, the start of Carnival, and more.

Bodyguards of the emir of Daura, the hometown of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, perform traditional Muslim Friday prayers outside the town’s central mosque as the emir prays inside, on Feb. 22, 2019. Nigerians went to the polls for a presidential election Saturday, Feb. 23, one week after a surprise delay for Africa’s largest democracy. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)


People walk near a former church tower  on Feb. 25, 2019 on the frozen Lago di Resia, a lake created in 1950 when the Etsch River was dammed up to produce electric power, flooding the village of Graun in South Tyrol in northern Italy. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Visitors line up on Feb. 22, 2019 at the Great Temple of Ramses II, to watch the sun send a beam of light into the ancient temple, illuminating its inner chamber for over ten minutes in Abu Simbel, 540 miles south of Cairo, Egypt. The sunlight reveals colossal statues, drawing thousands to the 3,200-year-old astronomical ceremony that happens twice a year. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

A reveler in costume performs during the “Cordao do Boitata” street party in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 24, 2019, one of the many parades before the official start of Carnival on March 1. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

LGBTQ advocates react to the Traditional Plan being adopted during the special session of the United Methodist Church General Conference on Feb. 26, 2019, in St. Louis, Mo. RNS photo by Kit Doyle

Monsignor Hector Lunar waits as servers prepare for Mass in the Dulce Nombre de Jesus Church, in the Petare slum of Caracas, Venezuela. “Mass is Mass, but there have been moments when, yes, I’ve had to talk about the country’s social affairs. It’s impossible not to do so,” Monsignor Hector Lunar said. “The problem is one person who goes by the name of Nicolas Maduro.” The beloved priest in one of Latin America’s largest slums has fallen under attack by loyalists of President Maduro for using the pulpit to hold the embattled socialist leader responsible for suffering among his poor parishioners. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Two revelers kiss in Cologne’s city center as thousands of revelers dressed in carnival costumes celebrate the start of the street carnival in Cologne, Germany, on Feb. 28, 2019. Festivities take place between Fat Thursday (Weiberfastnacht) and Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch), when Lent begins. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Members of the Gur Hassidic sect dance during a traditional ultra-Orthodox Jewish wedding in Jerusalem, on Feb. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)


Alexander Dungan, of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary near Chicago, sits near an exit of the America’s Center following a vote to adopt the Traditional Plan at the UMC General Conference in St. Louis, Mo., on Feb. 26, 2019. RNS photo by Kit Doyle

Pope Francis, in white, attends a penitential liturgy at the Vatican on Feb. 23, 2019. The pontiff hosted a four-day summit on preventing clergy sexual abuse, a high-stakes meeting designed to impress on Catholic bishops around the world that the problem is global and that there are consequences if they cover it up. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo Via AP)

Members of Congress and other dignitaries were among those who watched a play depicting the lives of four girls killed in a 1963 bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., on March 1, 2019. Dozens of members of Congress are participating in a weekend-long civil rights pilgrimage through the state. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)

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