PHOTOS OF THE WEEK: Durga Puja and volcanic eruptions

By Jessi Dodge · October 1, 2021

Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the unearthing of the True Holy Cross of Christ in Ethiopia and India's Durga Puja festival.

People celebrate the festival of Maskel in Ethiopia commemorating the unearthing of the True Holy Cross of Christ, on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. Celebrations begin with the building of the Damera bonfire in Maskel Square in Addis Ababa – a conical pyre of poles surrounded by bundles of branches and torches, decorated with green grass and Abyssinian daisies symbolizing the New Year. (AP Photo)

An exiled Tibetan holds a ceremonial offering during an early morning prayer gathering in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Religious images covered with ashes from a volcanic eruption on the Canary island of La Palma, Spain on Friday Oct. 1, 2021. Authorities were watching Friday to see whether lava from the new fissure would join the main flow that has reached the sea. The new fissure is the third to crack open since the Cumbre Vieja crater erupted on La Palma island Sept. 19. (AP Photo/Daniel Roca)

An Indian artisan works on an idol of Hindu goddess Durga ahead of Durga Puja festival in Gauhati, India, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Indian women in traditional attire get ready to practice Garba, a traditional dance of Gujarat state, ahead of Hindu festival of Navratri in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. The Hindu festival of Navratri, or nine nights, begins Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

A teacher's niece sits alone in a classroom as boys attend a class to memorize the Quran, Islam's holy book, at a madrasa in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Shiite Muslim worshippers gather inside the holy shrine of Imam Hussein on the Arbaeen Shiite festival in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. The holiday marks the end of the 40 day mourning period after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson in the 7th century. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Judges cross the road toward Parliament after a Service at Westminster Abbey for the opening of the new legal year in London, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. The Service in Westminster Abbey dates back to 1897, when judges prayed for guidance at the start of the legal term. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Bishop Robert Brennan stands at the altar at the Church of Saint Saviour in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. Pope Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of the Catholic bishop of Brooklyn, Nicholas DiMarzio, weeks after a Vatican investigation cleared him of sexual abuse allegations, and appointed Brennan, a native New Yorker, to replace him. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

A woman holds a sign reading "Great Party-building Spirit" as a volunteer hands out maps at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. Visitors thronged tourist sites in China's capital on the first day of the National Day holiday period. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Archival Photos

An Italian Shepherd kneels before Pope Pius XII at his summer residence to receive the Pontiff’s blessing. He was one of more than 800 shepherds that received an audience by the pope, many of whom presented him with gifts. They were gathered in Rome for the Second National Congress of the Pious Union of Shepherds, which has a membership of some 35,000. RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (I-10C-55-NAB-C)

Traders are a blur of action as they maneuver through an earlier crisis on the New York Stock Exchange. The scene symbolizes, for many, the good and the bad of big business. This year, April 17 was designated by a Ralph Nader-led coalition of liberal thinkers as "Big Business Day (BBD)," to publicize the group's across-the-board demand for corporate reform. The project had the support of many church officials, including Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and Timothy H. Smith, director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), an affiliate of the National Council of Churches (NCC). RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO