Photos of the Week: Pope Francis in Africa; Candlemas

By Kit Doyle · February 3, 2023
 (RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes Pope Francis visiting Congo and South Sudan, Candlemas and more. Pope Francis watches traditional dancers perform at Martyrs' Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Francis is in Congo and South Sudan for a six-day trip, hoping to bring comfort and encouragement to two countries that have been riven by poverty, conflicts and what Francis calls a "colonialist mentality" that has exploited Africa for centuries. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, right, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields talk prior to the arrival of Pope Francis at Juba's airport, South Sudan, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) People wait for the arrival of Pope Francis for a meeting with priests, deacons, consecrated people and seminarians, outside the Notre Dame du Congo Cathedral in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Pope Francis greets worshippers at Notre Dame du Congo Cathedral in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thursday Feb. 2 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) Wreaths are placed at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Berlin, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) President Joe Biden speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol Hill, Feb. 2, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) From left, President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy of California, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana listen during a guest speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Feb. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) The Venerable Guo Yuan, in orange, leads a Buddhist prayer ceremony on Jan. 31, 2023, outside Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, the site of the mass shooting that left 11 people dead. RNS photo by Alejandra Molina A woman carries statues of baby Jesus in a baby stroller during Candlemas celebrations in the Xochimilco neighborhood of Mexico City, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Throughout Mexico, people dress up figures of baby Jesus and take him to the church to be blessed at Candlemas. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Statues of the baby Jesus are displayed during Candlemas celebrations in the Xochimilco neighborhood of Mexico City, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Throughout Mexico, people dress figures of baby Jesus and take them to the church to be blessed. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) The casket of Tyre Nichols is escorted out of the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church after a funeral service for the 29-year-old, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. Nichols was beaten by Memphis police officers, and later died from his injuries. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) A prayer is said near the end of the funeral service for Tyre Nichols at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church on Wed., Feb. 1, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. Video screen grab. Priscilla Mumbi, from left, Ireene Peres Atieno and Lucy Kahaki, members of the Zion Praise Team, a deaf choir, rehearse outside of St. Andrew’s Church in Nairobi, Kenya, in Jan. 2023. RNS photo by Fredrick Nzwili Archival Photos Father Stephen Gross, S.J., baptizes a baby inside a church made of sticks and thatch in a small village which used to be a camp for workers at the United Fruit banana plantation near El Progresso, Honduras, in 1971. Father Gross lived at the Jesuit-supported center for leadership training called La Fragua in El Progresso. Five days a week he drove to different communities in the plantation-dominated area, administered baptisms and marriages, and offered Mass. Because he served about 40 communities, it took him as long as two months to complete the circut. RNS archive photo by Steve Dunwell. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society Portrait of Cardinal Wyszynski, circa 1953, who was arrested and banished by the Polish Communist government. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
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