(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes Christian Holy Week events around the world, Passover beginning and more.
A devotee of a statue of Jesus carrying a cross known as the Nazareno de San Pablo, wearing a crown of thorns and the color purple, prays inside the Basilica of St. Teresa during Holy Week celebrations in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, the doors of the famous church opened its doors on Wednesday where the venerated statue resides. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Penitents from the 'Hermandad Penitencial de Jesus Yacente' brotherhood take part in a procession in Zamora, Spain, early Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Nuns walk in the Palm Sunday procession on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Sunday, April 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
A view of S.Peter Square at the Vatican as Pope Francis celebrates Palm Sunday Mass, Sunday, April 10, 2022. The Roman Catholic Church enters Holy Week, retracing the story of the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection three days later on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Penitents carry bundles of thorny branches during a Holy Week procession in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, April 14, 2022. In traditional processions that last from Thursday evening into the early morning hours of Friday, hooded penitents drag chains and shoulder the thorny bundles through the streets, as some flog themselves with nail-studded whips meant to bring them closer to God. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Pope Francis blesses chrism oil contained in a jar during a Chrism Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, April 14, 2022. During the Mass, the pontiff blesses a token amount of oil that will be used to administer the sacraments for the year. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A man reenacts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to mark Good Friday in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, April 15, 2022. Christians all over the world attend mock crucifixions and passion plays to mark the day Jesus was crucified, known to Christians as Good Friday. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
Clerics perform the washing of the feet rite during a Holy Thursday religious service at the St. Joseph Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, April 14, 2022. Romania's Catholic worshipers celebrate Easter a week before the country's Orthodox majority. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Penitents from 'Virgen de la Esperanza' brotherhood take part in a procession in Zamora, Spain, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Worshipers carry a religious float with a image of Jesus Christ during a Good Friday procession of La Merced church in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, April 15, 2022. Around the world, Christians are coming together in observance of Good Friday, which they believe was the day Jesus was crucified. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
A penitent takes part in a Holy Week procession known as "Los Picaos" in San Vicente de La Sonsierra, northern Spain, Friday, April 15, 2022. Hundreds of processions take place throughout Spain during the Easter Holy Week after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
People walk in a procession to mark the Bengali New Year in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 14, 2022. After a two-year break, thousands of people in Bangladesh and Nepal on Thursday celebrated their respective new years with colorful processions and musical soirees as the coronavirus pandemic eased and life swung back to normal. (AP Photo/Al Emrun Garjon)
Detained Palestinian demonstrators are silhouetted on a fence, following clashes at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, in Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Aid workers and refugees attend a multi-faith Passover Seder dinner in Przemysl, Poland, on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Two hundred people attended the celebration organized by the NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief aid organization, which includes volunteer doctors, nurses, social workers and healthcare experts who are trained to mobilize for human-made and natural disasters worldwide. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Rabbi Pinsk Karlin and other Ultra-Orthodox Jews collect water from a spring to make matzoh, a traditional handmade unleavened bread for Passover, during the Maim Shelanu ceremony at a mountain spring in the outskirts of Jerusalem, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Jews are forbidden to eat leavened foodstuffs during the Passover holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites' escape from slavery and exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Archival Photos
The rotor blades of a burned-out U.S. helicopter create a stark silhouette against the desert skies of eastern Iran where the American commando mission to rescue the hostages proved impossible after equipment failure. Photo, taken Saturday, April 26, 1980, also shows U.S. helicopter that was left behind when the mission was aborted. In two announcements over Iranian state radio, the militants announced that groups of American Embassy captives had been taken to the provincial cities of Qum and Tabriz, as part of a plan to prevent further rescue attempts. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
Native children stand outside a small rural Catholic church under construction in Bejuco, Panama, in April 1954. The structure is one of a number in a Catholic church building revival among Panamanian villages. The revival is said to be intended to counteract the increased activity of Protestant groups doing missionary work in rural areas. With improved transportation, Catholic priests and missionaries will visit these new churches more often to minister to the spiritual needs of the people. Small churches like this are springing up through rural Panama. This church under construction was at Bejuco, on the Pan-American Highway in interior Panama, and was being built by a neighborhood group to house their devotions. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
