Looking back: religious leaders

Peace activists march with the religious symbols from Hinduism (L), Christianity (C) and Islam (R) during a procession in Calcutta, India, 5 March 2002. Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/EPA

5 August 1903

Pius X is elected Pope. Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto, the Patriarch of Venice, is more than a little reluctant in accepting his new role.

23 February 1940

Six-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is enshrined as the new Dalai Lama in Llasa, Tibet.

The boy Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, at Lhasa, November 1950. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

30 September 1978

Catholics around the world are stunned at the sudden death of Pope John Paul I, only 33 days after his election.

Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani, 1912-1978) shortly before his death. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

19 January 1979

Fears of bloodshed if Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini succeeds in forcing the present Iranian Government out of office.

Demonstrators holding a poster of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in Tehran, during a demonstration against the shah, 1 January 1979. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

8 September 1986

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is enthroned as leader of some 2 million South African Anglicans. He marks the occasion with a hard-hitting yet conciliatory sermon attacking white racism.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Hay Festival in Wales, 2009. Photograph: Rex Features

19 September 1989

Devotees pray for Mother Teresa as she lies in the intensive care section of a nursing home in Calcutta’s affluent south side. The missionary and Nobel prizewinner recovers but dies in 1997. Pope Francis canonises her in 2016.

18 March 2012
Pope Shenouda III obituary – He was the Egyptian spiritual leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church for more than 40 years.

Pope Shenouda III leading Easter Mass at the Coptic Cathedral of Saint Marcos in Cairo, Egypt, 23 April 2011. Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

25 January 2015

The first Church of England female bishop is appointed. Libby Lane, the new bishop of Stockport, says she wants to be a role model for girls.

The Right Reverend Libby Lane, the first female to be consecrated as a bishop in the Church of England, March 2015. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

21 February 2018

Billy Graham, the 20th-century Christian crusader and father of showman evangelicalism who had the ear of 12 US presidents, dies at the age of 99.

7 April 2018

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is the star of a new Netflix documentary. He was a popular spiritual leader in India before moving to Oregon in the United States.

31 May 2018

Pope Francis and sex abuse - The Pontiff becomes the first pope to condemn the Catholic church’s ‘culture of abuse and cover-up’, although some think much more should be done.