Blessed are the critters.
A parade of pets streamed into St. John the Divine in Manhattan on Sunday for the annual Blessing of the Animals, with dogs, cats — and even a lizard and a rooster named Pio — in line for a special benediction.
Pet owners crowded into the pews at the historic cathedral, most lugging canine companions on leashes, to await the annual ceremony.
Sunday marked the 32nd Feast of Saint Francis and Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, a ceremony that is a popular Big Apple tradition for pet-owning faithful.
This year’s sermon at the event centered on how “we must protect the vulnerable by getting beyond talking past each other about care of the environment and climate change, for we share this planet under one sun, the church said.
The event has drawn celebrities in the past, including comedian John Mulaney, who showed up in 2019 to have his French bulldog, Petunia, receive a blessing.
