The Lord is not pleased.
Hours after Pope Benedict XVI jolted the Catholic world with the announcement of his resignation, the Boss Upstairs unleashed a shocker of his own — opening the heavens and hurling a bolt straight at St. Peter’s Basilica yesterday.
In what many saw as a sign from the Almighty, lightning struck the rod atop the dome of the more than 500-year-old basilica, one of the Catholic Church’s holiest sites, during a storm yesterday.
“Heavy rain & lightening [sic] over the Vatican here in Rome, clear signs the lord is angry #pope,” one Twitter user, @MrMeldon, cracked.
Such acts of God aren’t entirely unusual for the Vatican. Sixteen marble chandeliers were damaged by rubble after at least one lightning strike. And storms have destroyed other Vatican ornaments, including statues and the coat of arms of Pope Alexander VII
When the Vatican was restored in 2005, a new lightning rod was installed to guard against strikes.