Photos of the Week: Saint festival in feathers, Army chaplains

By Jessi Dodge · July 29, 2025

(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes a Peruvian saint's festival celebrated in feathers, 250 years of US Army chaplains and more.

Children dressed in feather costumes attend a Mass celebrating Saint Francisco Solano at his namesake chapel in Emboscada, Paraguay, Thursday, July 24, 2025. Catholic parishioners in Paraguay don bird-like costumes and parade the streets to honor the 16th-century saint said to possess miraculous powers. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

A parishioner dressed in a feather costume prays during a Mass celebrating Saint Francisco Solano, in Emboscada, Paraguay, Thursday, July 24, 2025. Hundreds of Catholic parishioners in Paraguay don bird-like costumes and parade down the streets to honor the 16th-century saint said to possess miraculous powers. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Pope Leo XIV greets faithful at the end of a mass celebrated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle in St. Peter's Basilica on the occasion of the Youth Jubilee at the Vatican, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Rabbi Avigayil Halpern, right, critiques a paper by Rabbi Leead Staller during a forum hosted by Halachic Left on Sunday, July 20, 2025 at an Upper West Side, New York synagogue. (Photo by Gili Getz)

The U.S. Army Chorus sings during an event in the Memorial Chapel at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Ft. Myer, Virginia, Friday, July 25, 2025. It was one of three events that day at ANC and Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall honoring the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps’ legacy before its 250th birthday on July 29, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser/Arlington National Cemetery/released)

Representatives from across the U.S. Army Chaplains Corps attend an event at Chaplains Hill at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, Friday, July 25, 2025. The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps celebrated its 250th birthday on July 29, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser/Arlington National Cemetery)

Worshipers visiting Mount Rainier National Park gathered for a service at the Cougar Rock Campground arranged by A Christian Ministry in the National Parks on Sunday, July 20, 2025. Volunteers who work for park concessioners lead services like these in many national parks across the nation. The ministry program is approaching its 75th anniversary. (Photo by John Schmidt)

From left, Dah Couchoro Balogoun of the National Voudon Council of Benin, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo and Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia, chairman of the Sikhs Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, gather during the opening of the World Council of Religions for Peace summit in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Archival Photos

Maj. Gen. Charles E. Brown, Jr., second from left, chief of chaplains of the U.S. Army, is assisted in cutting a cake marking the observance of the 190th anniversary of the Army chaplaincy at Fort Hamilton, New York, on July 29, 1965. From left, Maj. Gen. John H. Caughey, director of training for the Continental Army Command; Brown; Col. William J. Reiss, commandant of the U.S. Army Chaplain School at Fort Hamilton, and William H. Wilson, president of the board of First Christian church at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, one of about 100 guests at the event. Some 120 Protestant, Catholic and Jewish chaplains formed one of the companies of marching troops in a military review. (RNS archival photo by U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society)

The finishing touches to his portrait of Mother Cabrini are applied by artist Gasper Ruffolo prior to its unveiling at the Mother Cabrini Hospital on July 7, 1946, the day on which her canonization ceremonies took place at the Vatican. Mother Cabrini was first U.S. citizen to be so honored by the church. (RNS archival photo by Acme Newspictures. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society)