Photos of the Week: Diwali, Catholic canonization

By Jessi Dodge · October 22, 2025
 (RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, the canonization of seven new saints in the Roman Catholic Church and more. Hindu tourists light oil lamps as they celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, near the clock tower in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) Hindu devotees pray during Diwali day at a temple in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw) Hindu devotees carry lamps as they pray on the banks of the Saryu river during Deepotsav celebrations, ahead of Diwali, in Ayodhya, India, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Lanterns are displayed for sale at roadside stalls as people shop ahead of Diwali festival in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) Pilgrims and faithful wear T-shirts carrying the image of soon-to-be-canonized Venezuelan doctor José Gregorio Hernández wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV, who will preside over a Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during which he will canonize seven new saints of the Catholic Church, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Pope Leo XIV tours St. Peter's Square at the Vatican after presiding over a Mass during which he canonized seven new saints of the Catholic Church, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Believers carry a representation of Mother Carmen Rendiles Martínez and in the back a statue of Jose Gregorio Hernandez after being canonized by Pope Leo XIV during an event to celebrate Venezuela's first saints at a square in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) A temple worker decorates giant candles at Zhou Si Kong shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, to mark the beginning of the Vegetarian Festival. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) Religious leaders gathered for an interfaith vigil pose for a portrait, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, before joining a "No Kings" demonstration in Times Square in New York. (RNS photo/Fiona André) Indian traders perform rituals during Chopda Pujan, a prayer ceremony dedicated to the worship of account books, on the occasion of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, at the Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) Buddhist monks perform rituals for Kanchha Sherpa, the last surviving member of the mountaineering expedition team that first summitted Mount Everest, as his body lies for final rites ahead of a funeral ceremony at his residence in Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Archival Photos Village "radio schools," like in this 1964 photo, held under direction of the Maryknoll Fathers, teach South American natives how to read and write, and about agricultural and technical subjects to raise their living standards. Held either in a small room or outdoors, each class is conducted by a local volunteer teacher in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and northern Argentina. Since the Quechua dialect the locals speak has little written material, they are taught Spanish, the official language of the countries in which they live. Other subjects include religion, health and academic courses. Instructions for the teacher are received by radio from Maryknoll broadcasting centers in various areas. (RNS archive photo by Robert Kearnes. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.) Navy Chaplain John A. Piirto, right, a Lutheran Church in America clergyman, baptizes a Vietnamese refugee infant aboard an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea in 1975. The child was christened Nguyen John Hancock, after the U.S. carrier on which he had been flown from Saigon aboard a Marine evacuation helicopter. No one knew the baby's name, who his parents were or his age. He had come aboard the carrier with Wolfgang Hohlfield of West Germany, who, with the Rev. Fritz Berghaus, had operated a place called "Peace Village," which gathered war-wounded children from Vietnam and flew them to Germany for medical treatment. Berghaus got 70 of the 83 children in his charge flown from Saigon, but 12 of the final 13 were left behind. Only the tiny dehydrated and malnourished baby could be taken aboard the Marine helicopters. And on May 3, 1975, Nguyen John Hancock was baptized in the ship's chapel. His sponsors were Mr. Hohlfield and Dr. Carl Dahl of Denver, who treated and prescribed for the infant while aboard the ship. The doctor thought Nguyen was about 6 months old so he was given Oct. 31 (Reformation Day), 1974, as his birthday. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
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