(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes Christmas celebrations and more.
Christians wearing Santa Claus costumes participate in a Christmas parade in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Ukrainian children attend a parade on Orthodox Christmas eve in downtown Lviv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys)
Christians attend prayer on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, at St. Mary Cathedral in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Issa Kassissieh, 47, in his 18th year dressing as Santa Claus, waves to people in the Old City of Jerusalem, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, spreading a message of "love, hope and peace," ahead of the Christmas holiday. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Palestinian parishioners place a Christmas tree they built at the entrance of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, ahead of Christmas celebrations. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, arrives at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Yemenis raise posters of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, during a rally to denounce what they said was the desecration of the Holy Quran in the U.S., in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk and now CEO of Turning Point USA, takes the stage during AmericaFest on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, right, welcomes Bishop Ronald Hicks during a news conference at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dec.18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Archival Photos
Children commemorate the Feast of the Epiphany in 1964, by re-enacting the visit of the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus. They are members of the Maryknoll mission parish in Tanzania. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
Pope Paul VI delivers his traditional Christmas blessing, "Urbi et Orbi," to some 50,000 people filling St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in 1973. In his Christmas Day message, the pope warned against a humanism that "exalts man" as "man's god," insisting that mankind is in need of salvation and a Savior. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
