(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s gallery looks back at some of the best photographs from 2023.
People queue to see the late Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI lying in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where thousands went to pay their homage, Jan. 3, 2023. Pope Benedict was a German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
A member of Filhos de Gandhi, a Yoruba Afro-religious cultural group, participates in a ritual during the first cultural and religious activity of the year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
Orthodox Christians celebrate Epiphany, a colorful festival celebrated all over Ethiopia to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Thursday Jan. 19, 2023. The eve, starting on Jan 18, is known as Ketera, which means blocking the flow of water for the blessing of the celebrants. On the eve of Ketera, people escort their parish church tabot (replicas of the Ark of the Covenant) to Timkete-Bahir (a pool, river or artificial reservoir). (AP Photo)
The Venerable Guo Yuan, in orange, leads a Buddhist prayer ceremony on Jan. 31, 2023, outside Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, the site of the mass shooting that left 11 people dead. (RNS photo/Alejandra Molina)
Hindu devotees join a procession as they walk inside the Sri Subramaniyar temple during Thaipusam celebrations at Batu Caves, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. Thaipusam, which is celebrated in honor of Hindu god Lord Murugan, is an annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks.(AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
People mourn after they bury their loved ones in Adiyaman, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. Emergency crews made a series of dramatic rescues in Turkey, pulling several people, some almost unscathed, from the rubble, days after a catastrophic earthquake killed more than 20,000. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
A "momotxorro'' participant takes part in the carnival wearing typical carnival dress, in Alsasua, northern Spain, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. During the carnival Momotxorros, characters who seem to have been resurrected from a prehistoric ritual come out onto the streets wearing horns and hiding their faces under headscarves, and dressed in a white sheet stained with blood. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
Attendees come forward to pray together during worship at Hughes Auditorium on the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. Both floors were completely full of attendees for the service. A student-led revival lasted for weeks at the university. (Photo by Fiona Morgan)
A woman searches for the grave of her husband, a Ukrainian serviceman killed in the Bakhmut area, in the Alley of Glory part of the cemetery in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Men from Barsana village smeared with colors play Holi at Nandagram temple in Nandgoan village, 70 miles south of New Delhi, India, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Women from Nandgaon, the birthplace of Hindu God Krishna, beat the men from Barsana, the legendary birthplace of Radha, the consort of Krishna, with wooden sticks in response to their efforts to put color on them. The same act is then replicated in Barsana between the women of that village and the men of Nandgaon as they observe the Lathmar Holi festival, a celebration of love and friendship. (AP Photo/Deepanshu Aggarwal)
Members of Women of the Wall read the Book of Esther during the Jewish holiday of Purim, which coincided this year with International Women's Day, in the women's section at the Western Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The group has waged a decades-long fight for gender equality at the the holiest site where Jews can pray. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks shout slogans during a protest march to commemorate the 64th anniversary of an uprising, in Dharamshala, India, Friday, March 10, 2023. Thousands of Tibetans had surrounded the Potala Palace in the Tibetan capital Lhasa to protect their leader, the Dalai Lama, in 1959. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
Pope Francis adjusts his skull cap at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Francis passed his 10th anniversary as pope on March 13. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Indonesian Muslims perform an evening prayer called 'tarawih,' marking the first eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Millions of Muslims in Indonesia are gearing up to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, with traditions and ceremonies across the world's most populous Muslim-majority country amid soaring food prices. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
Children with traditional dress walk during the Melasti, a purification ceremony at Kuta beach, Bali, Indonesia on Sunday, March 19, 2023. The ritual, which is performed ahead of the Balinese Hindu Day of Silence, is held to purify the universe from bad influences, bad deeds and bad thoughts. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
Fitzgerald Moore leads a group in prayer at a memorial at the entrance to The Covenant School on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. The Covenant School was subject to a mass shooting which killed three students and three staff on March 27. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
A Muslim worshipper offers a pray during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan at Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. Islam's holiest month is a period of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Covered in prayer shawls, Jewish men of the Cohanim Priestly caste participate in a blessing during the holiday of Passover, overlooking the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background, in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, April 9, 2023. The Cohanim, believed to be descendants of priests who served God in the Jewish Temple before it was destroyed, perform a blessing ceremony of the Jewish people three times a year during the festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Muslim girls carry torches as they parade to celebrate the eve of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, Friday, April 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Yusuf Wahil)
Police and local residents load the exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult into the back of a truck in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southeastern Kenya on April 23, 2023. Hundreds of bodies have been discovered in shallow graves in a forest near land owned by a pastor, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death. (AP Photo)
Devotees unveil a giant canvas of sacred "Thangka" under the sun during Wesak day celebration in Ipoh, Malaysia, Thursday, May 4, 2023. Wesak Day, one of the holiest days for Buddhists, offers an opportunity for all followers to come together and celebrate not only Buddha's birthday, but also his enlightenment and achievement of nirvana. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Britain’s King Charles III, front center, and Queen Camilla, middle center, walk in the Coronation Procession after the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)
A veiled woman prays as she takes part in the Christ of May procession, in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, May 13, 2023. After Santiago's 1647 earthquake, the San Agustin Catholic church was devastated and only the crucifix of Christ remained intact. An annual procession by parishioners occurs on May 13, as devotees believe parading the relic through the city center will protect them from future calamities. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Buddhists march with lanterns in a parade during the Lotus Lantern Festival to celebrate for the upcoming birthday of Buddha on May 27 in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People pray over the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster at the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles abbey Sunday, May 28, 2023, near Gower, Mo. Hundreds of people visited the small town in Missouri this week to see the nun's body that has barely decomposed since 2019 — some are saying it's a sign of holiness in Catholicism, while others are saying the lack of decomposition may not be as rare as people think. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Penitents take part in a dancing devils procession in the annual commemoration of Corpus Christi, in Chuao, Aragua state, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. A Roman Catholic movable feast day celebrating the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, this year Corpus Christi fell on June 8. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Former President Donald Trump prays with pastor Mario Bramnick, third from right, and others at Versailles restaurant on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in Miami. Trump appeared in federal court Tuesday on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents and thwarting the Justice Department's efforts to get the records back. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Rev. Linda Barnes Popham addresses the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in New Orleans, La., on June 13, 2023. Popham's church, Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, was expelled by the denomination. (RNS photo/Emily Kask)
Revelers gather at the ancient stone circle Stonehenge to celebrate the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, near Salisbury, England, Wednesday, June 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Water mist is sprayed on Muslim pilgrims as they pray on the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Exiled Tibetan children wait to perform in front of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, unseen, during a function marking the Tibetan leader's 88th birthday at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamshala, India, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
Pilgrims headed to the Himalayan shrine of Amarnath prepare food in the shade of a parked bus outside a base camp in Jammu, India, as their onward journey remained suspended for the third consecutive day due to bad weather, Monday, July 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Members of the Sabean Mandaeans, a pre-Christian sect that follows the teachings of John the Baptist, perform rituals in the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 16, 2023. The Sabean Mandaeans are marking the new year, which they celebrate as a five-day holiday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Shiites participate in Muharram processions in the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. During Muharram, Islam's second holiest month, Shiites mark the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in the 7th century. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)
A group of pilgrims cool off playing in a fountain in front of the Jeronimos Monastery, where Pope Francis will visit in Lisbon, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Pope Francis started his five-day pastoral visit to Portugal Wednesday. The visit included his participation at the 37th World Youth Day, and a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Fatima. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Makkabi Berlin coach Wolfgang Sandhowe instructs his players before a practice match, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. When Makkabi Berlin took the field on Sunday Aug. 13, 2023, the soccer club founded by Holocaust survivors became the first Jewish team to play in the German Cup. (AP Photo/Ciaran Fahey)
Sikh motorcyclists participate in the Parade of Faiths in Chicago on Aug. 13, 2023. The parade preceded the Parliament of the World's Religions, which began August 14. (RNS photo/Lauren Pond)
A man carries an icon of Mary with Jesus to save it from a wildfire at Agia Paraskevi Christian Orthodox monastery in Acharnes, a suburb of northern Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Water-dropping planes from several European countries joined hundreds of firefighters battling wildfires raging for days across Greece that left 20 people dead, while major blazes were also burning in Spain's Tenerife and in northwestern Turkey near the Greek border. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Members of Hindu Brahmin community perform the annual Shravani Puja at Sangam, the holy confluence of river Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, in Prayagraj, India, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Brahmins, or Hindu upper castes, believe that performing rituals on this day will wash away their sins. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Shiite Muslim worshippers gather inside the holy shrine of Imam Hussein to commemorate the Arbaeen festival, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, in Karbala, Iraq. Arbaeen marks the end of the forty-day mourning period after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, in the 7th century. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the nation's highest court, speaks at the 60th Commemoration of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews select chickens to be used in the Kaparot ritual in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. Observant Jews believe the ritual transfers one's sins from the past year into the chicken and is performed before the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish year which starts at sundown Sunday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A 49-foot statue of Nilkanth Varni greets visitors to the BAPS Akshardham campus in Robbinsville, New Jersey, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. The largest Hindu temple outside of India opened to the public in October. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar)
New cardinals during a consistory at St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)
Supporters of Israel, background, and Palestinian supporters, foreground, gather at the Israeli Consulate in New York, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in the wake of an attack on Israel by Hamas. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Hundreds of demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in Gaza gather in the U.S. Capitol's Cannon House Office Building rotunda on Oct. 18, 2023. The group was primarily organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)
Israeli Americans and supporters hold displays of kidnapped individuals, calling for their return, as they gather around an installation in Times Square featuring a 222-seat Shabbat (Sabbath) table set, a symbolic representation of hostages still held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
People sign "I love you" while gathered at a vigil for the victims of Wednesday's mass shootings, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, outside the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A family that came with the Islamic Center of Union County in New Jersey holds up effigies of Palestinians who were killed by Israel during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)
Crowds of supporters gather on the National Mall at the March for Israel on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A woman holds a clay oil lamp during a ceremony to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, at Krishna temple in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. Diwali celebrates the spiritual victory of light over darkness. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Sikh devotees participate in a religious procession ahead of the birth anniversary of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak, in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
Argentina’s president-elect, Javier Milei, center left, leaves after praying next to Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis at the resting place of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson at Montefiore Cemetery, Nov. 27, 2023, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Revelers take part in a traditional St. Nicholas procession in the village of Lidecko, Czech Republic, Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. This pre-Christmas tradition has survived for centuries in a few villages in the eastern part of the country. The whole group parades through the village for the weekend, going from door to door. St. Nicholas presents the kids with sweets. The devils wear home-made masks of sheep skin and the white creatures representing death with scythes frighten them. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
People gather around a menorah lit up for Hanukkah, placed at the former site of a police station that was overrun by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, in Sderot, southern Israel, Thursday Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An installation of a scene of the Nativity of Christ with a figure symbolizing baby Jesus lying amid the rubble, in reference to Gaza, inside the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. World-famous Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem have been put on hold due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Young women and men sing carols as they hold candles to celebrate St. Lucia's Day in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Catherine in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. The church was built in the 19th century by and for Swedish expatriates in Saint Petersburg, and it is usually called the Swedish Church. In Soviet era the church was used as a sport hall. St. Lucia is the patron saint of vision. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
