New York worshippers celebrate mass at St. John the Divine Cathedral alongside hundreds of animals -- including a camel, a pony, snakes, ostriches, geese, cats and dogs -- which all queued for blessings. The Manhattan Episcopal church invited its guests to mark the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, known as the patron saint of pets and animals. Sunday's ceremony was a special milestone for the parish, which has not held a traditional first-weekend-of-October animal blessing since 2018, due to a fire and then the Covid-19 pandemic. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES