Pets across the Rio Grande Valley were celebrated and blessed Wednesday at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.

The blessing was held as Catholics celebrated the feast day of St. Francis of Assissi, the patron saint of ecology and animals.

"I've been doing this for the last 20 years of my life since I became a priest, people bring their pets and animals to be blessed that day,” Father Jorge Gomez said. “We are creatures in the world, and we're not the only beings in this Earth. We have to respect the created world, and also the animals."