A crowd of churchgoers witnessed what many believe was a biblical sign as a cloud appeared to take the form of Jesus Christ in broad daylight.
The remarkable sight was captured near the Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Peñafrancia in the Philippines on June 14.
A crowd had gathered to worship ahead of National Youth Day in the country's Naga City when several parishioners spotted a cloud in the shape of a person standing upright.
National Youth Day is a Filipino holiday celebrated on June 19 that emphasizes serving the community and country.
As one of the attendees zoomed in, their video allowed those on social media to spot details like a head, long, wispy hair, legs, and an outstretched arm.
'Is it a sign?' one person asked on X.
For many in the Philippines, the well-timed sighting was absolutely a sign of a divine presence.
However, this may also be a case of pareidolia, a phenomenon that describes the tendency to perceive meaningful images in random or ambiguous visual patterns.
Examples of this include people who see a face in a piece of toast or an animal in a cloud. Our minds are wired to recognize things we know, even if they're not really there.
However, after the Jesus-shaped cloud went viral online, over 8,000 worshippers reportedly visited the site to honor the holy sign.
'Heaven touches earth in the most unexpected ways. A reminder that Christ is truly with us… even in the skies above,' another believer posted on X.
While many on social media have posted messages and Bible verses, sharing their belief that the cloud was a heavenly sign, others voiced skepticism that it was really an image of Jesus.
'I believe in Jesus, but that's a cloud,' one person wrote on X.
'It's just a cloud. And it looks more like Beyoncé than Jesus,' another user claimed.
Meanwhile, some held onto their faith but kept an open mind about what the sign was trying to show the gathering of Filipino youths.
'I think it's an apparition, but not sure it's Jesus. Perhaps the Holy Mother Mary or an angel. I do believe cloud formations are often created and intentional,' one believer posted Thursday.
On a scientific level, cloud formations are natural phenomena that appear when water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into visible droplets or ice crystals, creating clouds that can take on various shapes.
These clouds can look like fluffy cotton balls, thin wisps, or heavy, dark sheets, depending on weather conditions like temperature and humidity.
Sometimes, people see clouds that resemble objects, animals, or even human figures, like the Jesus-shaped cloud reported over Naga City.
This isn't the first time religious individuals have reported seeing an image of Jesus in the sky.
In 2020, Caroline Hawthorne spotted a bizarre cloud formation from her kitchen window in the UK, which she firmly believed was an image of Jesus or an angel.
In Italy, onlookers in 2019 captured remarkable images of what looked like the figure of Jesus appearing above the town of Agropoli as sunlight broke through the clouds.
An even more astonishing sight was caught on video in 2017, when locals in the Colombian city of Manizales said they recorded the figure of Jesus appearing near the site of a devastating landslide.
A crowd gathered to film the sunlight slanting through clouds where 17 people were killed by landslides after a month's worth of rain fell in just one night.
The rare cloud phenomenon was recorded on a mountain called Sancancio and the glowing figure provided comfort to the residents who lost homes, loved ones, and jobs in the natural disaster.
