Photos of the Week: First American pope, Buddha’s birthday

By Kit Doyle · May 14, 2025

(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the election of Pope Leo XIV, Buddha's birthday commemorations and more. Pope Leo XIV leaves the Augustinian General House in Rome after a visit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) Cardinals following the election of Cardinal Robert F. Prevost as the 267th pope, choosing the name of Pope Leo XIV, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) People celebrate waving flyers of newly elected Pope Leo XIV during a Mass in his honor, in Chiclayo, Peru, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo) Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, center, leaves after a Mass with the College of Cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, the day after his election as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Friday, May 9, 2025. (Photo/Vatican Media) From left, U.S. Cardinals Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the USA; Robert McElroy of Washington; Wilton Gregory, archbishop emeritus of Washington; Blase Cupich of Chicago; Joseph Tobin of Newark; Timothy Dolan of New York; and Daniel Di Nardo, archbishop emeritus of Galveston Houston, attend a press conference at the North American College in Rome, Friday, May 9, 2025, one day after U.S. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain) Cardinal Robert Prevost appears on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, choosing the name of Pope Leo XIV, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Devotees fly lanterns during the commemoration of Vesak, which marks the day of Buddha's birth, death and enlightenment, at the ninth-century Borobudur Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, late Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi) Buddhist devotees visit Botataung Pagoda during a religious ceremony to mark the Full Moon day of "Kasone," known as Buddha's Birthday, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw) A Buddhist monk circumambulates the Boudhanath stupa during Buddha Jayanti, also known as Buddha Purnima festival, to celebrate Buddha's birthday, in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Buddhist monks walk around the ninth-century Borobudur Temple during the commemoration of Vesak, which marks the day of Buddha's birth, death and enlightenment, in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, early Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi) Archival Photos Recovering from a broken hip at the age of 104, Kate Hukill is confirmed by Protestant Episcopal Bishop Francis Eric Bloy of Los Angeles on April 28, 1963. At left is the Rev. Harold F. Knowles, pastor of St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach, California, who had counseled Hukill. She was believed to be the oldest person confirmed in the Episcopal Church in the U.S. A retired school teacher, she moved to California from her native Iowa in 1877. (RNS archive photo by Dan L. Thrapp. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.) Austrian pilgrims hold a torchlight thanksgiving service under the arches of Rome’s ancient Colosseum in 1955. More than 1,500 Catholics came there from Austria to give thanks for the departure of foreign occupation forces from their country. The cross at right marks the spot where martyrs were killed during the Roman persecutions. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)

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