video transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: Just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his surprise resignation as pontiff, footage from Monday evening showed the top of St Peter's Basilica being struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm over the Vatican. The video clearly shows the sky being lit up as fork lightning dramatically strikes the top of the dome. Pope Benedict sent shockwaves through the church on Monday when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on.