Lightning appeared to strike St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on Monday just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, according to the BBC. The lightning strike happened around 6 p.m. local time. Photo above.
AFP was the first to publish the startling photo of a lightning bolt coming out of the heavens and appearing to strike the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, one of Catholicism's holiest sites. AFP photographer Filippo Monteforte caught the amazing photograph during a storm.
"It was icy cold and the rain was falling in sheets," he told AFP. "When the storm started, I thought that lightning might strike the rod, so I decided it was worth seeing whether – if it DID strike – I could get the shot at exactly the right moment.”
