Photos of the Week

This week's picks for our weekly gallery of religion photos from around the world.

Tourists visit India's famed monument of love, the Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, on March 22, 2018. The 17th century white marble monument is India's biggest tourist draw, with about 3 million visiting every year. (AP Photo/R.S. Iyer)

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression from around the world. This week’s gallery includes events related to the spring equinox, the return of kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria, and more.

Tourists visit India’s famed monument of love, the Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, on March 22, 2018. The 17th century white marble monument is India’s biggest tourist draw, with about 3 million visiting every year. (AP Photo/R.S. Iyer)

Visitors hold their hands out to receive the sun’s energy as they celebrate the spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, on March 21, 2018. Although the official vernal equinox occurred on Tuesday, thousands of visitors were expected to climb the ancient pyramid Wednesday to greet the sun and celebrate the beginning of spring. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)


Tara Devi, left, mourns the death of her grandson Aman Kumar, whose body was found buried northwest of Mosul, Iraq, at her home in Passu on the outskirts of Dharmsala, India, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. On Tuesday, India’s foreign minister confirmed the mass grave outside the village of Badush in northern Iraq contains the bodies of 39 Indian construction workers abducted shortly after the area fell to the extremists. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Monuments called ‘fallas’ burn in a fire during the traditional Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain, on March 19, 2018. Every year the city of Valencia celebrates the ancient “Las Fallas” fiesta, a noisy week that is full of fireworks and processions in honor of Saint Joseph that ends with burning of large papier mache satirical figures displayed around the streets of the city. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

New York City firefighters walk along Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City on March 17, 2018 as part of a unit carrying 343 flags that represents the department members killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Several bagpipe bands led a parade made up of over 100 marching bands after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke briefly, calling it a “day of inclusion” and adding: “We’re all immigrants.” (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

An Afghan boy launches a kite for his friend on a hilltop during Nowruz celebrations, the Persian new year, in Kabul, on March 21, 2018. Despite an attack in Kabul that killed at least 29 earlier in the day, in the afternoon people, including women and children, came out on the streets with colorful clothes and continued to celebrate the New Year holiday. Nowruz is celebrated on the first day of spring in countries including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. (AP Photos/Rahmat Gul)

Recently freed school girls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi pose for a photograph after a meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential palace in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 23, 2018. Nigeria’s president welcomed to his official residence more than 100 girls who were released by Boko Haram Wednesday after being kidnapped last month.(AP Photo/Azeez Akunleyan)

Pope Francis poses for photos with a group of traditional Swiss horn players, during his weekly general audience, in St.Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Massachusetts Maritime Academy students greet spectators, left, during the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston on March 18, 2018. The city’s 117th St. Patrick’s Day Parade followed a shortened snow route used three of the past four years due to the buildup of snow from three recent nor’easters. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)


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