A Prince of Peace Passes
Pope Francis with a dove in St Peter’s Square on World Peace Day 2022.
The story of death and resurrection, the end and the beginning, mortality and eternity resonated with exceptional power this Easter-tide, especially as war continues in the holy land. Sadly, the death of Pope Francis on this Easter Monday seems right for the times.
It is hard to overstate the importance of the passing of a Pope. Approximately every 6th person living on this planet is a member of the Catholic Church — lapsed or not. And many of us are Catholic-adjacent, living in Catholic societies, or going to Catholic schools, or simply steeped in Catholic culture. Simply by arithmetic, the Pope is the single most important faith leader in the world. This marks the absolute end of an era.
Very few people could possibly have the moral authority to hold that position, but I think Pope Francis was one of the finest Popes. We have been fortunate to have him at the helm of the church during these years, and it is a great pity that he won’t be here for a little while longer to help guide us through this changing world. He seemed a man of integrity, compassion, humility, great intelligence and kindness, a prince among men as well as a prince of the church.
However, if you have any doubts about the power of astrology, you may be about to lose them now, because the skies show it was his time.
Astrological chart of the Passing of Pope Francis
First let’s look at the chart for the moment of his passing. It shows just what an important person he was. Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld, met the Moon, our world soul, on the Midheaven at the moment Pope Francis stepped from this life into the next. Saturn, the grim reaper, in the final sign Pisces, so deeply associated with Christianity, was less than a minute from an exact conjunction to the North Node, the “gateway”. Venus, who when in Pisces signifies universal love, conjoins.
At the moment of his death, Taurus is Rising, the sign of Mother Earth, and Uranus the planet of change is on the Ascendant.
All Popes whose charts I have studied have powerfully placed Ceres and Juno, and you can see that these two mother goddesses are both active in the chart of his passing. Juno opposes Uranus, and Ceres is just behind Venus in Pisces.
I suspect his heart just stopped. Mars in Leo, the sign of rulers, is exactly square the Sun in Taurus, and also trining Neptune at 0° Aries, and opposing that fateful Pluto-Moon conjunction. Indeed, the Moon transfers the light across all those planets. That 0° Aries point has been activated repeatedly over the past months, and when Venus and Saturn come here there will be more. It is the sign of the beginning of a new era, and with Neptune here we can assume this is a new spiritual era.
Natal chart of Pope Francis. Data courtesy astrotheme.
Now look at Francis’ own chart — and you can see that the transiting Sun in Taurus was on his midheaven. Transiting Jupiter, the all father, was on his Chiron — so this is a moment of initiation, and perhaps of pain. His corporeal being was broken open. The Moon-Venus conjunction in Aquarius is just lovely — a real sign of active compassion, of the peacemaker. His last act was to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. And there comes the transiting Moon a few hours later — after leaving Pluto.
Then see how transiting Saturn and the North Node are exactly squaring the Pope’s own Sun-NN conjunction in religious Sagittarius. This is the sign most associated with the Church, and a frequent Sun sign for prelates. And Sagittarius’ ruler Jupiter is the planet most associated with the Pontiff. This Pope’s tenure was one Jupiter cycle, that is 12 years. Francis’ own Jupiter is in a sign of leadership and establishment, Capricorn, and exactly conjoining Ceres, the asteroid of Popes. It’s notable also that Juno plays a pivotal role in Francis’ natal chart from the house of communications. Like his predecessors, he was a linguist.
As you can see, the Pope’s own Saturn is in Pisces, an appropriate place for a priest. It also means that his Jupiter in Capricorn was in mutual reception with Saturn. These are the two traditional planets of teachers and kings. Jupiter is the generous and compassionate teacher, and Saturn is the maker of rules. When they are in mutual reception like this, they are working in harmony. It’s a very productive and executive combination for a priest.
At this moment, the transiting stellium in Pisces has just passed his natal Saturn, and moved into his 9th house — which is also associated with the Church. So he has just passed his third Saturn Return — often a time of retirement from life.
So we can see that although it is very sad to see him leave this plane, it was his time to go. The pearly gates are open to receive him. And the world will certainly be mourning this humble and great man for many weeks to come.
As a former Catholic, I found myself profoundly moved by the news of this Pope’s passing. At a time when there seem to be very few ‘good guys’ left on this planet, I only pray that he will be working with a spiritual consortium in the great beyond to bring some peace and stability to our dark world. May he rest in well deserved peace. A great soul has left us.
Amen.
As a Jesuit educated Catholic I am one of the one in 6 – even if I do not always go to Church every Sunday. Preoccupied with other global issues I had not looked at Pope Francis chart. First as you say an end and a beginning could not more surely have resonated with this event which is receiving global wall to wall media coverage unthinkable say 25 years ago. His face reflected always his compassion and feel for mercy and for the disadvantaged. As you say Venus, Saturn, Node in Pisces could not be more descriptive of his passing.
His North Node is precisely to the minute opposite my South Node so I shall be looking with great personal interest to see how his legacy spills out into this storm-tossed world we face. One of your best – thanks so much Christina.
Thank you Anton. I liked him so much.
Did you like this post on X from @Pontifex, the “prince of peace”?:
“Our secularised world is teeming with magicians, occultism, spiritism, astrologers and satanic sects. If we kick the devil out the door, he tries to return through the window. If we overcome him with faith, he seeks to return through superstition. #GeneralAudience
7:00 AM · Sep 25, 2024”
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1.7M
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https://x.com/Pontifex/status/1838896235446734920
Not especially. Given the chance, I would love to have sat down with him and persuaded him otherwise.
It doesn’t bother me, I fit that description somewhat. I think “the devil” is our own unaccepted dark side, projected out into the world, so that we see it in other people and things.
Thanks Christina – I remember writing about him when he was elected – and noted then that he was a very Ceres pope. With Jupiter Mercury and Ceres near the descendant he sent that message of his philosophy out into the world. Ceres – the peace-maker, the animal protector, the environmentalist and the protector of underdogs including women. RIP Francis .
For interest if it’s ok to post here – the original post https://fayeblake.nl/monthly-planet/will-new-pope-win-oscar-2/
Please do. I’ll be talking about him at our Ceres symposium!
Great re symposium!