LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Dogs, cats and the occasional rabbit will be filing into churches this Saturday, Oct. 3, for one of the most popular rites of the year: The blessing of animals.
The custom is tied to the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, normally marked on Oct. 4. Because that falls on a Sunday in 2026, many parishes are holding their pet blessings a day early.
Why animals?
St. Francis of Assisi wrote Laudes creaturarum – commonly called “The Canticle of the Creatures” – in around 1225 while recovering from an illness at San Damiano, Italy. In this prayer, St. Francis blesses God for all creation.
Franciscan-run churches have blessed animals on the feast of their founder for decades. This practice has spread to many parishes – not just those run by Franciscans – in the English-speaking world.
“We ask you to bless this pet. By the power of your love, enable it to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures,” is the version Franciscan Media issues of the prayer said by many priests around the world on the feast.
“Blessing means bene-dicere – to say good things, to wish good things,” said Anglo-Catholic Father Johannes Arens, the parish priest of the Church of England’s St. Andrew’s Parish in Leicester, England.
“Pets are part of people’s lives and families. To bless animals in some way is like blessing cars – to pray for the circumstances of life and relationships and to pray for people in a holistic way,” he told Crux Now.
Arens knows the value of a good pet firsthand – his dog Dolly is nearly 14 years old.
“She is a very bright sheep dog and used to be incredibly active. She is an old lady and much quieter now, but even more affectionate and delighted about her human pack than she used to be,” the priest said.
(Crux Now can attest to this. When Crux Now interviewed Arens earlier this year, Dolly lay on his hand for most of the session.)
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“I think she has influenced me in eating almost entirely vegetarian – realizing that we humans are part of the animal kingdom and that we are not that dissimilar in many ways,” he said.
Although the blessing of animals often puts dog owners cheek by jowl with cat owners, leading to debates over which is better, the priest refused to enter into the fray.
“I like both cats and dogs, but I could not live with a cat as I am allergic to them,” he explained. “When I visit friends who own cats, I take antihistamines before I visit.”
The priest said he suspects cats and dogs are people’s favorite pets because they build relationships with their families.
“They recognize you, enjoy your company, and in a way, they stay like very small human children all through their lives, but tend to make less work!” Arens told Crux Now.
Then there is the question every pet owner eventually asks: Will Dolly go to heaven?
“Animals cannot sin as they follow their natural instincts. There is no question about good animals go to heaven and bad animals don’t – this would be nonsensical,” he said.
“About life in heaven we know very little – scripture tells us about ‘glorified bodies’ but what that means is open to speculation and escapes our imagination. It is clearly not a place to carry on indefinitely as before,” the priest said.
Catholic teaching has traditionally held that only humans have immortal souls, though the late Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’ of all creation being transfigured at the end of time.
“If the entire creation is unfinished and affected by the fall, then the entire creation will be completed at the end of times. I cannot imagine that human beings can be complete without the rest of God’s creation,” Arens said.
“So, yes,” he said, “heaven will include our pets!”
Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome
