Lightning Strikes St. Peter Statue on Pope Francis’ Birthday, Internet Lights Up
CV NEWS FEED // Before the end of 2023, the Internet was abuzz with rumors, later confirmed, that lightning struck a statue of St. Peter on Pope Francis’ birthday, December 17.
The news was first reported in Italian on December 26 by Andrea Cionci, an Italian Catholic blogger who questions the legitimacy of Francis as a successor of St. Peter. The rumor made its way into the Spanish Catholic blogosphere and was quickly translated into English by the “Pope Head” Substack:
On Sunday December 17, 2023, lightning literally pulverized the key and halo of the statue of Saint Peter, located on the facade of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas, north of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The story was “reported by the Telegram channel ‘The Pope’s Pearls,’” Cionci wrote. The report “seemed to be fake, given that no news could be found on the web,” he added, “but the event has just been confirmed by the Reverend Father Justo Lofeudo, a priest who is certainly a Bergoglian.”
“Father Lofeudo certainly did not realize the effect that the disclosure of the photo would have,” Cionci continued:
What is striking, in fact, is that the event occurred on Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s birthday, the day before the publication of the Fiducia supplicans declaration which opens up blessings for gay couples.
Catholic author Taylor Marshall highlighted the story on his YouTube Channel, commenting that the lightning not only happened during Francis’ birthday and one day before the publication of the controversial document Fiducia Supplicans, “but is also in his home diocese: Bergoglio was Archbishop and Cardinal of Buenos Aires.”
On December 30, Catholic commentator Steven O’Reilly revealed on his X (formerly Twitter) account that after contacting the Shrine in San Nicolás with a confirmation request in Spanish “the unsigned reply (from the Shrine) did not confirm or deny the facts, which is all that I requested.”
“Instead the reply said only (translated): ‘The interpretation of the facts that circulate through these media is not real, which is why the Sanctuary does not endorse or agree with them,’” O’Reilly reported.
On December 31, also on X, the Lepanto Institute reported:
Some people are questioning the veracity of the claims that a statue of St. Peter in Argentina was struck by lightning on Dec. 17, pulverizing the halo, key, and blessing hand.
The Lepanto Institute sent someone to the location to take pictures and confirm the events. The Dec. 17 lightning strike is CONFIRMED and here are additional pictures of the statue.
NOTE: The lightning struck the statue, despite there being lightning rods some 30-40 feet above it (second and third picture).
CatholicVote’s investigation
CV was also able to send a local journalist to the Shrine of San Nicolás and can clarify some facts:
- The lightning indeed struck the image of St. Peter at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of St. Nicolás, obliterating both the iron halo and keys in the statue’s right hand. The image of St. Peter is not located in the main entrance, but on the left side of the shrine, flanking a side entrance, with St. Paul on the other side of the same door. The image of St. Paul, whose sword is also iron, was not affected.
- The lightning indeed struck on December 17, Pope Francis’ 87th birthday.
- The City of San Nicolás is prone to lightning. In fact, it was after a lightning strike at the site of the Marian shrine that the faithful began building it in 1987 under the instructions of the Marian visionary Gladys Quiroga de Motta.
- As the Lepanto Institute stated, the shrine has plenty of lightning rods, thus the strike on St. Peter’s statue was highly improbable.
- Fr. Justo Antonio Lofeudo, incorrectly described by Andrea Cionci as a “Bergoglian” priest, is the founder of the Missionaries of the Holy Eucharist, a congregation dedicated to promoting perpetual adoration around the world.
- Speaking to CV, Lofeudo strongly denied taking or distributing the first pictures of the damaged statue going around the Internet, some of them with the footnote “courtesy of Fr. Justo Lofeudo.” On the evening of December 31, Lofeudo closed his daily homily on his Youtube channel confirming that the event was real, but denied being the source of any circulating photos.
- The Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás is not in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, as claimed by Marshall. Although located in the province of Buenos Aires, San Nicolás is a diocese located 150 miles north of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, and only 40 miles south of the Archdiocese of Rosario, the seat of San Nicolás’ ecclesiastical province.
- The Shrine has indeed refused to comment on or even acknowledge the strange episode. Neither on its official website nor on its Facebook or Instagram accounts, last updated on January 1, 2024, is there any mention of the event. A spokesperson for the shrine told CV that since January 1 is a holiday and a day obligation, there was no one available to comment.
- CV has confirmed that the lightning episode has sparked concern and speculation in San Nicolás and Buenos Aires, especially since the shrine was turning 40 years old and many thought of 2023 as an emblematic year.
https://catholicvote.org/lighting-strikes-st-peter-statue-on-pope-francis-birthday-internet-lights-up/
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