Pope Benedict---the last Catholic Pope?

Are we seeing the end of days? Many Catholics were shocked when Pope Benedict announced his untimely resignation. Usually, the patriarch of the world's biggest religion stays in his post up to the moment of death. Resignations are possible yet highly  discouraged.

Pope Benedict's' announcement of his resignation followed a string of highly charged "prophesies" online. Many see this as an omen, a definitive sign of the following Apocalypse or the "end of days". Some religious scholars say, his term was cut short as predicted by a 12th century monk. Meaning, Pope Benedict did not complete his Papal apostolate-ship, leading to many saying that St. Malachy's prophesies about the last ten popes have already came true.

What is the meaning of all these? If we follow what these doomsday sayers are saying, this resignation will follow tribulation as if this is not happening right now. Tribulation will happen shortly after the reign of the ten popes and afterwards, a war that would affect the entire world and justify the coming of Jesus Christ.

This comes at a time when the United States just passed a law that would prevent their economic system from collapsing further due to the global recession. Are we seeing the end of capitalism as we know it and the ushering of a new economic system that is more encompassing than the first?

Or, we are heading towards a global disaster that would disrupt the international peace that we have so achieved and taken cared of for the past sixty or seventy years?

No one knows.

Yet, the omens continue to happen. Hours after the pronouncement of his resignation, a lightning bolt struck the Vatican--twice. Was this just a coincidence or heaven speaking?