Photos of the Week

This week's picks for our weekly gallery of religion photos from around the world.

A Balinese man is hit with flaming coconut leaves during the fire fight ritual called 'Lukat Gni' before Nyepi, the annual day of silence marking the Balinese Hindu new year in Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia, on March 16, 2018. Bali's annual Day of Silence is so sacred that even reaching for a smartphone to send a tweet or upload a selfie to social media could cause offense. This year it will be nearly impossible to do that anyway, all phone companies have agreed to shut down the mobile internet for 24 hours during the holiday that marks the New Year on the predominantly Hindu island. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s gallery includes student protests in the U.S., Hindu rituals in Bali, and more.

A Balinese man is hit with flaming coconut leaves during the fire fight ritual called ‘Lukat Gni’ before Nyepi, the annual day of silence marking the Balinese Hindu new year in Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia, on March 16, 2018. Bali’s annual Day of Silence is so sacred that even reaching for a smartphone to send a tweet or upload a selfie to social media could cause offense. This year it will be nearly impossible to do that, though, because all phone companies have agreed to shut down the mobile internet for 24 hours during the holiday that marks the New Year on the predominantly Hindu island. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)


A boy takes a selfie with Pope Francis as he arrives in St. Peter’s Square for his general weekly audience, at the Vatican on March 14, 2018. March 13 was the 5-year anniversary of Pope Francis’ election as Bishop of Rome. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

High school senior D’Angelo McDade, front right, and fellow students carry crosses while marching in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood during a walkout to protest gun violence on March 14, 2018. About 200 students joined the local march, one of many student walkout protests across the nation, as a sign of solidarity with students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the scene of a recent school shooting in Florida in which 17 students and educators died. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)

Saheeda Perveen Nadeem sits in the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in downtown Kalamazoo, Mich., on March 12, 2018, the day she was scheduled for deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The church has offered sanctuary to the Pakistani who has lived in the U.S. for 13 years and whose 20-year-old son is protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (Mark Bugnaski /Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and wife Brigitte, offer floral tributes at Rajghat, the Mahatma Gandhi memorial, in New Delhi, India, on March 10, 2018. (AP Photo)

A participant throws a spear during Pasola, a ritual war and spear-fighting festival, on the island of Sumba, in central Indonesia, on March 10, 2018. Men throw spears in order to knock the opponent off his horse. Volunteers retrieve fallen spears and return them to the fighters. RNS photo by Alexandra Radu

Bangladeshi Muslims pray for the victims of Monday’s plane crash in Kathmandu, after Friday prayers at Bangladesh’s National Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 16, 2018. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered national flags be flown at half-staff at all government buildings at home and at embassies across the world, while special prayers were held Friday at mosques across the country. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Men are put into a trance-like state with keris, traditional daggers, pointed to their chest during the ritual of Melasti in Bali, Indonesia, on March 14, 2018. The ritual, which is performed ahead of the Balinese Hindu Day of Silence, is held to purify the universe from bad influences, bad deeds and bad thoughts. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)


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