Photos of the Week: Pre-Advent feast, Nepalese festival

By Jessi Dodge · November 25, 2025
 (RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes a pre-Advent feast and a Nepalese festival remembering departed family members. A bishop carries the Tabernacle during the feast of Christ the King on the last Sunday before the season of Advent at St. Joseph Church in Prayagraj, India, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) A priest carrying a crucifix performs rituals to celebrate the feast of Christ the King on the last Sunday before the season of Advent at St. Joseph Church in Prayagraj, India, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Sister of Mercy May Cronin, left, and Sister Christine Ma participate in a prayer vigil near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) A Nepalese man lights a butter lamp as other devotees stand in a queue to enter a temple during Bala Chaturdashi, a festival celebrated in memory of departed family members, in the courtyard of Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) A woman kisses a cross during a service at the Holy Apostle Andrew Church in Bucha, Ukraine, on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) People take photographs at the Ottoman-era Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, background, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, ahead of the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Turkey. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Muslims pray at the Ottoman-era Sultan Ahmed or Blue Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, ahead of the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Turkey. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Archival Photos At a Maryknoll mission in Guatemala, 11-year-old Mari fills 5-pound bags with flour for the mission's poor. Each bag is marked "Donated by the People of the United States of America." The Maryknoll Fathers, like most mission groups, maintain a continuous relief project of food and clothing supplied by Catholic Relief Services-National Catholic Welfare Conference. The food comes from the U.S. farm surplus program. (RNS Archive Photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society) Marking the first anniversary of the irregular ordination of 11 women as Episcopal priests, a "Service of Thanksgiving for a Whole Priesthood" is held in a Minneapolis park. Among the participants were the two Minnesota women ordained on July 29, 1974 in Philadelphia: Alla Bozarth-Campbell, left, and Jeannette Piccard, both in white pantsuits in center. The service was held in the park after Episcopal Bishop Philip F. McNairy requested that no church facility be used for it. It was conducted by the Very Rev. H. Douglas Fontaine, dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Mark, located across the street from the park. The service included a joint reaffirmation of ordination vows by all priests in attendance. (RNS Archive Photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society)
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