Overview

• Parishes in multiple cities are holding the traditional blessing of animals on Oct. 4–5 to mark the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
• In Santarém (PA), the São Francisco de Assis parish ran a full Oct. 4 program with the Divine Office, shared coffee, a morning blessing of animals and plants, a Eucharistic celebration, and an evening procession and Mass presided by Bishop Irineu Roman.
• In Sorocaba (SP), Bom Jesus dos Aflitos offered pet blessings on Saturday at 8:00, 10:30 and 12:30, while Santo António scheduled blessings after Sunday Mass on Oct. 5.
• Reports frame the events as expressions of St. Francis’s teaching on respect for creation and ecological care within Catholic devotional life.
• Local coverage from Divinópolis (MG) highlights residents who leave food and water, build shelters, rescue animals and promote adoptions, with examples such as PVC feeding stations and neighborhood-supported street dogs; G1 also cites an estimate of over 30 million abandoned animals in Brazil without naming a primary source.