Night falls on a big day in Rome

Sometimes, timing is everything. Ted Casler planned his first trip to Italy this spring but delayed going to Rome because of the funeral of Pope John Paul II and the subsequent meeting of the Roman Catholic College of Cardinals. He finally arrived in the capital on April 19 -- the day then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI. Casler, a computer programmer who lives in Menifee, Calif., took this picture from a bridge over the Tiber River not far from Vatican City. He didn’t have a tripod with him, and the light was fading, so he set his Canon A95 digital camera on the ledge of the bridge to capture St. Peter’s Basilica in a heavenly evening glow.