Photos of the Week: First woman archbishop of Canterbury, Israel-Hamas war anniversary

By Kit Doyle · October 8, 2025

(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the first woman archbishop of Canterbury, the second anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war and more.

FILE - The Rt. Rev. and Rt. Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally presides over a Palm Sunday worship service as Bishop of London at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. (Photo by Graham W. Lacdao, courtesy of St. Paul's Cathedral)

The Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullally, the new archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world’s 85 million Anglicans, poses for the media inside Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

An armed police officer at the scene of a stabbing incident at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, Thursday Oct. 2, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

A woman wears the flag of Israel wrapped over her back as she attends a vigil for the victims of the attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Elders pray over Tony Evans, center left, during a “Restoration Sunday” service at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Dallas. (Video screen grab)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children play next to Sukkahs, temporary structures built for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Texas megachurch founder Robert Morris is escorted out of the building after pleading guilty to lewd and indecent acts with a child at the Osage County Courthouse in Pawhuska, Okla., on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Elder Henry B. Eyring, bottom center, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other Church leaders raise their hands as part of a sustaining vote during the morning session of the 195th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (Isaac Hale/The Deseret News via AP)

President Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks at the conclusion of general conference during the Sunday afternoon session at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Oct. 5, 2025. (Photo © 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Funeral services take place in the Conference Center for President Russell M. Nelson, the 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7, 2025. (Scott G Winterton/The Deseret News via AP)

People attend an annual thanksgiving celebration in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Amanuel Birhane)

People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed or abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, as Israel marks the second anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People attend a rally calling for the release of all hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and urging a ceasefire, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, ahead of the second anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Archival Photos

Refugees line up for milk distribution in the Gaza Strip in 1954. Following the Palestine war, 200,000 Arabs took refuge in 1948 on a strip of land 40 km. long by 5 km. wide around the city of Gaza, and extending to the Egyptian border. As the resident population was previously 90,000, the density per square kilometer jumped up suddenly to 1,450 persons. Help was extended to the refugees by the Egyptian government, the International Red Cross, the Quakers, and since 1950, by the United Nations Relief & Works Agency. The refugees were originally concentrated in nine camps. Feeding, health, education, welfare, sanitation and the high birth rate were acute problems. UNRWA undertook the distribution of food rations and clothing, and set up clinics and general health services, schools, social welfare centers and recreation facilities. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)

Floodlights outline the new $7 million Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Oakland, Calif., in October 1964. The five-spired building, faced with California granite, commands a sweeping view of Oakland Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and oceanside residential areas. Nearly half a million visitors viewed the structure during October before it was dedicated for church use. (RNS archive photo by Jack Brown. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)