Photos of the Week: India hijab controversy, Lourdes reopens

By Kit Doyle · February 11, 2022

(RNS) - Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the Lourdes pilgrimage site reopening, controversy in India over hijabi schoolgirls being barred from classes and more.

Priests read prayers in honour of St.Haralampus, as believers gather around candles stuck to jars of honey, arranged in a cross shape, during Mass for the 'sanctification of honey' at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Church in the town of Blagoevgrad, south of the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church marks the feast of St. Haralampus, the Orthodox patron saint of bee-keepers, by performing a ritual for health and rich harvest. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

Deborah E. Lipstadt, nominated to be Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, with the rank of Ambassador, speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The memorial on the ruins of the Riga Choral Synagogue, burned to the ground by Nazis in 1941, in memory of those who perished in the blaze, in Riga, Latvia, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. Latvia’s Parliament has passed a milestone Holocaust restitution bill after years of wrangling in a move that will provide compensation for lost prewar Jewish property and funding to revitalize the Baltic nation’s Jewish community that perished almost completely during World War II. (AP Photo/Roman Koksarov)

Indian girl students who were barred from entering their classrooms for wearing hijab, a headscarf used by Muslim women, speak to their principal outside the college campus in Udupi, India, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (Bangalore News Photos via AP)

Children and women hold posters as they gather during a protest against banning Muslim girls wearing hijab from attending classes at some schools in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, in Kolkata, India, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

An Indian Sikh student, right, shouts slogans during a protest against banning Muslim girls wearing hijab from attending classes at some schools in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. Muslim girls wearing hijab are being barred from attending classes at some schools in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, triggering weeks of protests by students. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Pilgrims pray at the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes, southwestern France, Friday, Feb.11, 2022. The cave sanctuary at the Catholic pilgrimage site at Lourdes in the French Pyrenees reopened to visitors Friday, for the first time since the pandemic swept over France and the world two years ago. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

Clerics burn representations of the U.S. flag during the annual rally commemorating the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi (Freedom) square in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. Thousands of cars and motorbikes paraded in the celebration, although fewer pedestrians were out for a second straight year due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A Quran owned by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson sits on display at the American pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. The Quran, on its first trip ever outside of the U.S. since being bought by Jefferson, had been on display at the Expo under constant guard. It was packed Wednesday to be returned to the Library of Congress. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath shows the victory sign to the crowd from a helicopter as he leaves after an election rally ahead of state elections in Muradabad, India, Tuesday, Feb.8, 2022. Some analysts believe the saffron-robed Adityanath, a poster figure for the Hindu right-wing, is vying to be the next prime minister. Over 150 million people are expected to vote in the state across seven phases starting Thursday before results are declared in March. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, file)

Laborers build a Hindu temple dedicated to Hindu god, Ram, demanded by millions of Hindus for over 100 years in Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Feb. 3, 2022. It's one of several frenetic constructions underway in Ayodhya, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking reelection by touting Hindu-first politics coupled with economic prosperity. Over 150 million people are expected to vote in the state across seven phases starting Thursday before results are declared in March. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath prays at a temple in the morning before going to file his nomination papers for the state assembly elections in Gorakhpur, India, Feb. 5, 2022. The polls are a referendum on the saffron-robed Adityanath, a poster figure for the Hindu right-wing, who some analysts believe is vying to be the next prime minister. Over 150 million people are expected to vote in the state across seven phases starting Thursday before results are declared in March. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Reader Photos

Worshippers during the Vigil service for the feast of the Epiphany at the Monastery of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 6, 2022. The monastery was founded in 1905 and is the oldest Orthodox monastery in North America. Photo by Richard Mammana

Archival Photos

Don Marker, past president of the Heaven Pacers of the East Bay hot rod club, kneels in prayer before his "hot rod" in February 1955, in Oakland, California. The "Hot Rod" racing club is believed to be the only organization of its kind in the country which combines auto racing with the practice of Christianity. Known as the Heaven Pacers of the East Bay, the club's 20 active members consider their racing fraternity as a missionary field. Members attend a brief non-denominational service before every race that is held on Sundays, in addition to praying individually during a race. The Heaven Pacers have as their motto this verse from I Corinthians: "Know ye not that they which run in the race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain." (9:24) To join the club, applicants must "know the lord as your own personal saviour," and own or be able to build a "hot rod." RNS archive photo by Keith Dennison. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.

Baseball great Jackie Robinson speaks at the National Conference of Christians and Jews meeting on March 29, 1956. RNS archive photo by Irving Kaufman Studios. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.

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