2025 Photos of the Year

By Kit Doyle · December 31, 2025

(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s collection looks back at some of the best photography from 2025.

A man walks in front of the burning Altadena Community Church, Jan. 8, 2025, in the downtown Altadena section of Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Shrine parishioners throw ice cold water on themselves during the annual cold-endurance festival at Kanda Myojin Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, a traditional Japanese way of purifying their soul and praying for their health in the new year. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A man rides a horse through a bonfire as part of a ritual in honor of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the patron saint of domestic animals, in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, left, attend the national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

An Egyptian Sufi man performs a devotional dance with a snake known as "zikr" as he celebrates a religious festival, or Moulid, which commemorates of the birth of Muslim Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter Sayyeda Zeinab, outside the mosque and shrine named for her, in Cairo, late Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Dressed in white robes to symbolize purity and equality before God, followers from the Layene brotherhood gather near a sacred grotto where they believe their prophet received divine inspiration, in Ngor, Senegal, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

A Kashmiri Shiite Muslim girl lights a candle on the graves of her relatives, while offering prayers for the salvation of the souls of the departed, during Shab-e-Barat, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Thai Buddhist monks pray as they gather at Wat Dhammakaya temple to participate in Makha Bucha Day ceremonies in Pathum Thani, Thailand, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Deacons take part in a Mass for their jubilee in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

American-Jewish visitors hold Torah scrolls at a synagogue in the old city of Damascus, Feb. 18, 2025. A Syrian-American Jewish family returned for the first time since emigrating from Syria to the United States more than three decades ago, as part of a delegation organized by the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, in the wake of the fall of the government of former President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

As the sun sets, Palestinians sit at a large table surrounded by the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings as they gather for iftar, the fast-breaking meal, on the first day of Ramadan in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, from left, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Derrick Johnson march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Mexican painter Roberto Marquez places a painting of Pope Francis he made outside the Agostino Gemelli Hospital in Rome, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Indians dance in clouds of powdered colors as they celebrate Holi in Guwahati, India, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Catholic bishops lead a march in solidarity with migrants, Monday, March 24, 2025, in downtown El Paso, Texas, on the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Oscar Romero. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Families visit Clifton Beach to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Orthodox priest Father Igor, center, with children and their parents, releases birds celebrating the Annunciation preceding the celebration of Orthodox Easter, in front of the St. Tatiana Church near the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, on Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

People arrive to offer prayers at Haji Ali Dargah, a Muslim shrine by the Arabian Sea coast, in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Jewish men and children burn leavened items in final preparation for the Passover holiday in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish town of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Pope Francis arrives at the end of the Mass on Palm Sunday in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, center, the spiritual leader of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christians, arrives to lead the service of the Holy Passion at the Patriarchal Church of St. George, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The body of Pope Francis is carried through St. Peter’s Square to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, April 23, 2025, where he will lie in state for three days. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Buddhists prepare for the Yeon Deung Hoe, or Lotus Lantern Festival, ahead of the Buddha's birthday on May 5, at Jogye temple in downtown Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Firefighters work outside the historic Clayborn Temple, a landmark from the civil rights movement with ties to Martin Luther King Jr., after it caught fire Monday, April 28, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Karen Pulfer Focht)

"Ping On" buns prepared for sale for the Bun Festival in Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

Tables and chairs line the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in preparation for the conclave in early May 2025. (Photo © Vatican Media)

Cardinal Robert Prevost appears on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, choosing the name of Pope Leo XIV, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A man with his face painted during a traditional guardian spirit ceremony called He Neak Ta in Phum Boeung village, northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Muslim pilgrims gather on top of 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, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Pilgrims light candles at the shrine of El Rocio near Aznalcazar, Spain, during the annual Catholic pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of El Rocio, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Hindu holy men chant religious hymns as they wait to register for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, in Jammu, India, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Mourners carry the coffins of victims killed in Sunday’s suicide bombing at Mar Elias Church during a funeral procession at al-Saleeb Church in the al-Qasaa neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Dan Beazley, left, holds a large cross as he prays with visitors at a memorial for flood victims on Thursday, July 10, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

The U.S. Army Chorus sings during an event in the Memorial Chapel at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Ft. Myer, Virginia, Friday, July 25, 2025. This was one of three events on that day at Arlington National Cemetery and Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall honoring the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps’ legacy before its 250th birthday on July 29, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery)

Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end of a Mass with young people participating in the Youths Jubilee at the Tor Vergata field in Rome, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

People gather on La Cumbre, a mountain considered sacred to burn offerings in observance of the month of Pachamama, or Mother Earth, performing an ancient tradition to ask for a good harvest, on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Monks pray during a memorial service for atomic bomb victims ahead of a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the bombing near Nagasaki Peace Park, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Nagasaki, western Japan. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Shiite pilgrims participate in Arbaeen at the holy shrine of Imam Hussein, which marks the end of the 40-day mourning period following Ashoura, in Karbala, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

A Hindu woman performs evening rituals to the Sun god on Hartalika Teej festival at the Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, during this festival married women observe a day-long fast for the longevity of their husbands, while unmarried women observe a fast praying for a good husband in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

People gather at a vigil at Lynnhurst Park after a shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School, Aug. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Women pray as Muslims mark Prophet Muhammad's birthday, known as Mawlid, in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Russian Orthodox believers attend a religion procession along Nevsky Prospect marking the anniversary of the St. Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

People listen to a worship song in the overflow area outside before a memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Sept. 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children play next to Sukkahs, temporary structures built for the upcoming 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)

People react as they watch a live broadcast of Israeli hostages released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, at a plaza known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

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)

A woman makes herself up for the traditional Catrina parade marking the Day of the Dead in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Pilgrims pray at the reliquary of Saint Andrew the Apostle, the patron saint of Romania, inside the altar of the National Cathedral in Bucharest. The largest Orthodox church in the world opened its doors to the public for 11 days on Oct. 26, 2025, with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visiting. (RNS photo/Alexandra Radu)

Pope Leo XIV and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I lead an Ecumenical prayer service near the archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of Saint Neophytos, in Iznik, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, marking the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Palestinians take part in a Christmas tree-lighting event in Manger Square, next to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, ahead of Christmas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Rabbi Motti Feldman speaks during a menorah lighting ceremony at a floral memorial for victims of Sunday's shooting, at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Issa Kassissieh, 47, in his eighteenth 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)