Lessons From That Lightning Strike on the St. Peter Statue

Or God says, “Can you hear me now?”

On December 17th, a lightning strike hit a statue of St. Peter on a Roman Catholic church, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás, near Buenos Aires.  The strike removed the keys the statue held along with the hand holding the keys.  It was thought it had also burnt up the halo around the head of the statue, but that was in error.  More on that shortly.

“Yes, lightning hits stuff.  So what?”  So one might dismiss this event.  Well, some coincidences are too much coincidences to be mere coincidences.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

I am convinced there are lessons here, and we best pay attention, even if we might not be Roman Catholic as I am not.

First, it is important to get one’s facts straight.  And this video from Anthony Stine is helpful in updating what we know as is this Lifesite article.  It turned out that the halo was not burnt up.  I got that wrong also (But I don’t think on substack), and I apologize.  The halo had been removed previously.  When, how and why are something of a mystery at this time, but it was not the lightning strike.  Of course, getting this wrong can make one wonder what other assertions are in error.  Whether skepticism is deserved or not, one error can harm credibility.

But the flip side of that is we should not always dismiss an event because of human error in reporting it.  What if we treated Scripture that way?  If one teacher misquotes or misinterprets Scripture, as happens every day, should we therefore dismiss the truth of Scripture?  Of course not.

So we should not ignore that lightning strike merely because of now corrected error about the halo.  Now onto why we should pay attention.

First, there is the date — December 17th, 2023.  That is Jorge Bergoglio’s (aka Pope Francis) birthday.  That also is the day before the issuance of Fiducia supplicans.  Yes, the day before the Vatican approved same-sex blessings with the requirements of a wink and a nudge.

Second is the location — near Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Reports that the lightning strike was in Bergoglio’s old diocese were in error.  But it was in his home country not far from his old diocese.

Third is the nature of the damage to the statue.  Most of it is intact.  But the blessing (right) hand is now gone along with the keys it was holding.  The keys symbolize the authority given to St. Peter and to the papacy after him.

Another interesting fact is that lightning rods on the building failed to protect the statue.  And the statue is not on top of the building.

Nor is this lightning strike in isolation.  I have not forgotten that lightning struck St. Peter’s Bascilica the night Pope Benedict resigned.

So you see why I think this event has too many coincidences to be a mere coincidence. I am convinced this is an act of God.

Yet not much attention is being given to this event outside of TradCat circles.  That in itself provides a lesson.  Us humans are capable of great cognitive dissonance when it comes to God’s workings that do not go along with our holy opinions or unholy desires.  Jesus even prophesied about that in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16:31)  Well, Jesus did rise from the dead with hundreds of eyewitnesses of the risen Christ. (I Corinth. 15:3-8)  Yet many/most refuse to believe in Him.

The Apocalypse starkly portrays the stubbornness of man to disregard the manifest acts of God.  Like the Pharaoh of the Exodus, after severe plagues, complete with fire and brimstone even . . .

. . . the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. (Rev. 9:20, 21 KJ)

Back to the recent act of God, I think it takes more faith of a sort to believe the lightning strike and its results are just coincidences than to believe it is an act of God. But if someone dismisses miracles and acts of God as pious nonsense, one probably will cling to one’s antifaith.  Or if someone just loves Francis, they also will dismiss the lightning strike rather than rethink their foolish fawning over Francis.  People can be stubborn and thick-headed that way as both Scripture and experience show.

But what if we do acknowledge that God indeed has acted in the lightning strike?  I do not presume to know the whole mind of God in this.  But I think this much is obvious:

The Lord is not pleased with Bergoglio. Remember this happened on his birthday. And Peter does symbolize the papacy. Nor is He pleased with Fiducia supplicans, which was issued the next day. Rome and other churches may have changed their teachings and policies on same-sex coupling and blessings, but God has not.  Yes, the Church of Rome is not the only church that needs pay heed.  A lightning strike should not be necessary for us to see that.  But God in his grace provided us with it.  It is a holy exclamation point if you will.

But, getting beyond what should be obvious, it think it more than that.  The destruction of the keys and of the blessing hand may indicate that authority has been removed from Francis at least and perhaps from the papacy.  I already thought it very possible that Benedict was the last faithful pope.

I do not know, and I am loath to make clear what God has not made clear.  But I do think this lightning strike indicates more than just disapproval of Francis and his Fiducia supplicans.

In any case, this event makes it that much more important that we should do what we should be doing anyway — pay attention, watch and pray.

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photo source: Lepanto Institute