Photos of the Week

Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s gallery includes a pilgrimage in Cuba, Muslim unrest in India, and more.

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s gallery includes a pilgrimage in Cuba, Muslim unrest in India, and more.

People stand around a man crawling as he arrives inside the shrine of Saint Lazaro as a self-imposed penance during his pilgrimage, the evening before the saint’s annual feast day in El Rincon, a neighborhood of Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, late Monday, Cuba, Dec. 16, 2019. The Catholic saint is also known as the Afro-Cuban Yoruba deity Babalu-Aye, protector of the sick, and is an example of Cuba’s religions syncretism. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)


The pet dog of a follower of Saint Lazaro sits inside the saint’s shrine during an annual pilgrimage to the temple for his feast day in El Rincon, a neighborhood of Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, late Monday, Cuba, Dec. 16, 2019. The Catholic saint is also known as the Afro-Cuban Yoruba deity Babalu-Aye, protector of the sick, and is an example of Cuba’s religions syncretism. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

The Vatican cricket team walks to meet with Pope Francis in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, at the end of the pope’s weekly general audience, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A man dressed as Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost), the Russian Santa Claus, rides an electric scooter along a street decorated for Orthodox Christmas and New Year celebrations in St.Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

An elderly Kashmiri Muslim man prays at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. A call to afternoon prayer has rung out from the central mosque in disputed Kashmir’s largest city for the first time in more than four months, ending a virtual ban on religious practice in the Muslim-majority region’s biggest mosque. The Jamia Masjid was shut Aug. 5 as part of India’s security lockdown after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Muslim protesters pray on a road near the historic Red Fort in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019. Police detained several hundred protestors in some of India’s biggest cities Thursday as they defied a ban on assembly imposed to stem widespread demonstrations against a new citizenship law that opponents say threatens India’s secular democracy. Dozens of demonstrations were to take place around country as opposition grows to a new citizenship law that excludes Muslims. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Dancers perform the “Kullagua” during a parade in honor of “Jesus del Gran Poder,” or Jesus of Great Power, in La Paz, Bolivia, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019. Devotees celebrated the annual event’s inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage list. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

In this picture taken with long exposure, people walk along the Christmas Fair in front of the Mariendom (Cathedral of Mary) and St. Severi’s Church in Erfurt, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2019. The Erfurt Christmas Market is one of the most recognizable Christmas festivals in all of Germany, with the town’s central square decorated with a huge, candle-lit Christmas tree and a large, hand-carved wooden creche. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)


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