Pets get blessed at New York cathedral

A person holding their pet for the Blessing of the Animals during the St. Francis Day Service at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City on Sunday. Photo: AFP

New York worshippers celebrated mass at St John the Divine Cathedral last Sunday alongside hundreds of animals – including a camel, a pony, snakes, ostriches, geese, cats and dogs – which all queued up for blessings of their own.

The Manhattan Episcopal church invited its four-legged guests – or no-legged, in the case of the snakes to mark the feast of St Francis of Assisi, known as the patron saint of pets and animals.