Lightning strikes St Peter's Basilica as Pope resigns

[itshappening]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZL0Z2nV3cU

That is weird.

[sailingaway]

take that!

I wonder what sort of internal politics cause a Pope to resign?

Hasn't happened for 600 years has it? They get old, ill, Cardinals take duties, they die, THEN a new one is elected.

Very unusual.

[pcosmar]

That is weird.
Well,, isn't that interesting.

[pcosmar]

Very unusual.

Yup. Lots of folks in a real tizzie over it.
I am mearly observing with some amusement.

[QuickZ06]

So a lightning rod doing its job, so strange...............

[Aratus]

indeedy yes & no!
if BENEDICT sees
this as an omen?
are we in shock
as times change?

[ronpaulfollower999]

I think the last one to resign was because there was a dispute over who the actual pope was at the time.

[Pisces]

take that!

I wonder what sort of internal politics cause a Pope to resign?

Hasn't happened for 600 years has it? They get old, ill, Cardinals take duties, they die, THEN a new one is elected.

Very unusual.

I think Benedict realizes that the Church is in for some very difficult times and he believes someone younger and stronger would be better equipped for the coming struggles. I know that the Pope has done some things that have made the liberals and the modernists in the Church very angry, like his encyclical making it clear that all priests have a right to say the Traditional Latin Mass. He's really tried to clean some of the mess up but probably feels like he doesn't have the strength for it anymore. Also, he might think that if he resigns now there is a better chance at getting a more traditional Catholic elected as Pope.

[Aratus]

he in the last 8 years chose half the cardinals who will be voting?

[AFPVet]

Years ago, a Catholic church caught fire in my neck of the woods when lightening struck it... nothing unusual.

[Tax the Fed]

Great photoshop video - a direct hit even!

[TER]

A interesting thing happened during Vatican I I869 involving lightening. This was the Vatican Council which proclaimed the new dogma of Papal Infallability:

(Taken from here (http://books.google.com/books?id=oW0wAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=vatican+lightning&source=bl&ots=T3BAFyKHjm&sig=22nE8k_yAiUcjjp3WY2UPUzu4U4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P8IaUavDFaaV0QHxgYHABw&ved=0CGQQ6AEwBzj6AQ#v=onepage&q=vatican%20lightning&f=false).)

The two days of the most important public sessions of the Vatican Council, namely the first and last, were the darkest and stormiest which Rome saw from Dec. 8, 1869 to the 18th of July, 1870. The Episcopal votes and the Papal proclamation of the new dogma were accompanied by flashes of lightening and claps of thunder from the skies, and so great was the darkness which spread over the Church of St. Peter, that the Pope could not read the decree of his own Infallibility without the artificial light of a candle. The voice of nature was variously interpreted, either as a condemnation of Gallicanism and liberal Catholicism, or as a divine attestation of the dogma like that which accompanied the promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai, or as an evil omen of impending calamities to the Papacy.

And behold, the day after the proclamation of the dogma, Napolean III, the political ally and supporter of Pius IX, unchained the furies of war, which in a few weeks swept away the Empire of France and the temporal throne of the infallible Pope. His own subjects forsook him, and almost immediately voted for a new sovereign, whom he had excommunicated as the worst enemy of the Church.

[jmdrake]

A interesting thing happened during Vatican I I869 involving lightening. This was the Vatican Council which proclaimed the new dogma of Papal Infallability:

(Taken from here (http://books.google.com/books?id=oW0wAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=vatican+lightning&source=bl&ots=T3BAFyKHjm&sig=22nE8k_yAiUcjjp3WY2UPUzu4U4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P8IaUavDFaaV0QHxgYHABw&ved=0CGQQ6AEwBzj6AQ#v=onepage&q=vatican%20lightning&f=false).)

The two days of the most important public sessions of the Vatican Council, namely the first and last, were the darkest and stormiest which Rome saw from Dec. 8, 1869 to the 18th of July, 1870. The Episcopal votes and the Papal proclamation of the new dogma were accompanied by flashes of lightening and claps of thunder from the skies, and so great was the darkness which spread over the Church of St. Peter, that the Pope could not read the decree of his own Infallibility without the artificial light of a candle. The voice of nature was variously interpreted, either as a condemnation of Gallicanism and liberal Catholicism, or as a divine attestation of the dogma like that which accompanied the promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai, or as an evil omen of impending calamities to the Papacy.

And behold, the day after the proclamation of the dogma, Napolean III, the political ally and supporter of Pius IX, unchained the furies of war, which in a few weeks swept away the Empire of France and the temporal throne of the infallible Pope. His own subjects forsook him, and almost immediately voted for a new sovereign, whom he had excommunicated as the worst enemy of the Church.

Your knowledge of Christian history is amazing.

[TER]

Your knowledge of Christian history is amazing.

Thanks, but not that amazing at all. I remember reading once about the violent storm that occurred during Vatican I (where lightening struck the Church of St. Peter) and googled it. Trust me, my knowledge is not that great!

[Confederate]

I think Benedict realizes that the Church is in for some very difficult times and he believes someone younger and stronger would be better equipped for the coming struggles. I know that the Pope has done some things that have made the liberals and the modernists in the Church very angry, like his encyclical making it clear that all priests have a right to say the Traditional Latin Mass. He's really tried to clean some of the mess up but probably feels like he doesn't have the strength for it anymore. Also, he might think that if he resigns now there is a better chance at getting a more traditional Catholic elected as Pope.

Probably the best thing he did. I really do hope a more traditionalist conservative is elected.

[Confederate]

How is this news? Obviously lightning is going to strike the Basilica. It's 450 feet tall with a metal cross at the top, it's much, much taller than anything around it and basically has a lightning rod on top.

[ronpaulfollower999]

How is this news? Obviously lightning is going to strike the Basilica. It's 450 feet tall with a metal cross at the top, it's much, much taller than anything around it and basically has a lightning rod on top.

I think it's proof that the Basilica is actually a Tesla Wardenclyffe Tower.

[TER]

How is this news? Obviously lightning is going to strike the Basilica. It's 450 feet tall with a metal cross at the top, it's much, much taller than anything around it and basically has a lightning rod on top.

I agree this could all be quite coincidental. For many pious Italians though, who are often quite superstitious (not unlike most Greeks I know!), such an act occurring on the day the Pope announced his resignation is symbolic. The question for these then are, what is the symbolism? What is the message God is sending? Personally, I don't know what it means, but I must confess that my fear is that the next Pope may not be a conservative and traditionalist Pope (which, you would agree, is needed). I pray to God I am wrong. I very much respect Pope Benedict and saw that in the short time as Pope, he did much good for the Catholic Church and for relations with the Orthodox Church. These are historic times indeed.