The biggest question around the world is who will lead the Catholic Church after the shocking announcement from Pope Benedict XVI that he will resign? INSIDE EDITION reports.
It's an amazing photo that’s shocking the world.
Hours after the pope announced he's stepping down, a bolt of lightning struck the top of St. Peter's Basilica, the heart of the Catholic Church.
"Sparking His Wrath" is the headline in the New York Post, but a high ranking Church official had the opposite theory of what the lightning meant.
Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo said, “I saw it myself. I’m a witness and I think it was God himself saying to us, these are going to be exciting times for the Church.”
You'd be forgiven for thinking that the picture is a fake, but it's not. There was even video documenting the event.
A professional photographer snapped the shot after waiting two hours in the rain, anticipating a lightning bolt. It's said that lightning never strikes twice in the same place, but the bolt hit the basilica twice.
There have been other startling images that have sparked debate about their authenticity. A photo of a bonfire in Poland looked like the image of the late beloved Pope John Paul II.
On 9/11, there was an image which many thought to be the devil arising out of the World Trade towers.
In both cases, the photographers said no trickery was used. As for the lightning strike at the Vatican, one scientific explanation could be that a lightning rod was installed during a renovation.
