Lightning in Rome: Divine Intervention?

This image was taken by Alessandro Di Meo, photographer agent of Ansa. The photographer was able to capture a lightning strike on St. Peter’s Dome on MONDAY, when the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was officially announced. La Repubblica

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Could this be real? The truth is there was a major storm in Rome today — with thunder, lightning, hailstones…

Head of the Vatican office responsible for the basilica, Archbishop Comastri said in 2005 – the year Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI – that part of the restoration project includes putting up a new lightning rod “since a lot of lightning bolts hit the basilica.”

Two weeks ago the Dove of peace was attacked by a seagull

Back in 2002, on MONDAY, a 1,700-year-old Ethiopian obelisk was damaged in a lightning strike in Rome.

Several pieces from the top of the Axum Obelisk in central Rome crashed to the ground during a fierce thunderstorm .

The obelisk, which is 24 metres (78ft) high, was taken from the holy city of Axum in northern Ethiopia when the fascist regime of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini annexed the African country in 1937.

The lightning prompted Italy to return the stolen property of the Ethiopians. In 2005, after 68 years the monumental stelae was sent back to Ethiopia. The stele was reconstructed on its native ground in 2008,.

Some curious notes:

• Ethiopia is an Orthodox Christian Country

• Ethiopia is the first/second Christian country in the world

• The Ethiopian College in Vatican is the only school still within the grounds of the Holy See

• No Vatican Pope has ever visited Ethiopia

• No US American President has ever visited Ethiopia

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