Photos of the Week: Missouri’s nun; celebrating the Ganges

By Jessi Dodge · June 2, 2023
 (RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the presentation of Missouri's 'incorrupt' Benedictine nun, celebrations of the Ganges River in India and more. Devotees known as the Twelve Apostles (Doce Apostoles) distribute bread as they take part in the annual event in the village of Olite, northern Spain, Sunday, May 28, 2023. According to tradition, the Twelve Apostles pilgrimage originated in 1607, in honor of the Virgin Mary, during which the devotees would march 40 kilometres (25 miles) from midnight to midday and pray to the Virgin. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos) A Hindu devotee performs rituals by the banks of the River Ganges on Ganga Dussehra in Prayagraj, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. Hindus across the country celebrate Ganga Dussehra by worshiping the Ganges, considered their faith's sacred river. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) A Hindu devotee walks past flowers offered during Ganga Dussehra, on the banks of Hooghly River, a branch of the Ganges, in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. Hindus across the country celebrate Ganga Dussehra by worshiping the Ganges, considered the most sacred river. (AP Photo/Bikas Das) People pray over the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster at the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles abbey Sunday, May 28, 2023, near Gower, Missouri. Hundreds visited the small town this week to see the nun's body, which has barely decomposed since 2019 — a sign of holiness in Catholicism, some say, while others are saying the lack of decomposition may not be as rare as people think. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) Pope Francis prays before sprinkling holy water during a Mass on Pentecost, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, May 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) A devotee releases incense after dressing the statue of "Jesus del Gran Poder" or Lord of Great Power, at the "Jesus del Gran Poder" church in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, June 1, 2023. Thousands of dancers and musicians will parade on Saturday to show their devotion and thank God and for the year's blessings. (AP Photo/Juan Karita) A Kashmiri Hindu migrant performs rituals during the annual fair at Kheer Bhawani temple in Jammu, India, Sunday, May 28, 2023. The temple, originally built in Srinagar, was erected in Jammu by Kashmiri Hindus, known as "Pandits" or learned men after they were forced to flee from Srinagar and the adjoining valley areas when a separatist insurgency erupted in 1989. (AP Photo/Channi Anand) Kashmiri Hindu devotees, locally known as Pandits, light earthen lamps during the annual festival at the Kheer Bhawani Hindu temple in Tulla Mulla, 28 kilometers (17 miles) northeast of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sunday, May 28, 2023. Hundreds of Hindu devotees attended the prayers in the historic temple during the annual festival dedicated to Hindu goddess Durga. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Archival Photos Keeping occupied is one of the biggest problems for a man serving a jail term. Robert Jones, Jr., (right) solved the problem by weaving folded cigarette packs into the form of his home church in Mansfield, Ohio. Here, he shows the model of Mt. Hermon Baptist church -- made from 5,000 cigarette packs — to Mansfield Sheriff Thomas E. Weikel. Jones made the model during an eight-month sentence for violation of probation. RNS Archive photo, courtesy of Presbyterian Historical Society Storms and raging floods that paralyzed a wide section along the west coast of the U.S. spared a church standing on slightly higher ground in the devastated town of Klamath, California. Most of the town's residential area was swept away and the business district was totally destroyed. RNS Archive photo, courtesy of Presbyterian Historical Society
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