What a profound and striking transit alignment at the time of the Pope's passing. With Venus joining 8th-ruler Saturn on the nodes, the phrase "may he rest in peace" comes to mind for a passing that must have come as a relief in the end. How fitting was the timing? He died just an hour or so after making an appearance in St Peter's Square to bless crowds for Easter Monday, one of the holiest days for the Catholic church.

Hi there - it is indeed a profound chart. Moon-Pluto on the MC so precisely. His death will affect millions of people across the world. At his death 8th house ruler Jupiter in detriment lies on the second house cusp opposing the 8th. Sun at his death is partile square Mars. Sun rules the 4th and Mars the 12th. Sun is in the 12th and Mars is on the cusp of the 4th opposing Moon and Pluto.

May Francis rest in peace.

Best wishes.

Ed

Asteroid Francis conjunct the event SU (his natal MC)
At the Aries Point, ME/SA = NE Sad news.
To travel without return. Poeticaly, a journey beyond this life.
May he rest in peace.

The lord of the sub-period of the Firdaria for the pope was Mars which was also the lord of the year of the profection. Mars is in exil in the natal chart. So definitely a culprit. The profected Mars is located in the 8th house of death of the radix. Mars of the solar return is located in the 8th house of the solar return together with Moon ruler of the natal AC and ruler of the solar return 8th. So there is a strong emphasis on the 8th house through significant planets. The transiting Mars is conjunct the transiting IC. The transiting Moon is opposing the transiting Mars: The evil Mars attacks the body of the pope.

To look for the time of death, the conjunction of the most maleficent fix star Algol with the transit-AC catches the eye (accurate to 2'!).

Regarding the Jupiter-Saturn cycle and the ebb and flow of world leaders, I note the placement of Jupiter's exact sextile to the April 2024 eclipse degree, together with the Saturn node conjunction. Jupiter in his detriment in Gemini & the Pope's double pneumonia. The 2025 eclipse had Chiron at the eclipse degree of 19 degrees Aries. This is also the Sun's exaltation degree, befitting a world leader's passing time. Mars, the April 24 eclipse ruler at the time of death, moves within 3 degrees of the opposition to Pluto. As the Jupiter-Saturn square moves into a closer square, will this be the last new pope, and as Malachy prophesied centuries ago, the last pope before the end of the world will be black?

Note secondary progressed Sun exact conjunct Saturn in the 8th, which is also conjunct the transiting Saturn & North node.

i see no one has ventured to comment on the primary directions in operation for the end of pope francis's life...

using the settings martin advocates for in his book 'annual predictive techniques' i get the following readout with charts shown below..

perhaps one of the keen traditional astrology advocates would like to provide some insights... i am not seeing anything of great relevance.. thanks!

There are signs but if we have no trustworthy rectification how could we know which one is significant? The pope is a mighty person for many people so we cannot trust this birth time of 21:00. It is unlikely and therefor not very credible. I think we cannot use primary directions now and anyway they are not necessary. There are enough other rumblings of death.

No, using directions with such an almost certainly incorrect or, at the very least, rounded birth time would be a waste of time and effort. Besides, most ancient and medieval authorities (but not Ptolemy) used a combined approach to determining length of life from the hyleg. Directing the hyleg to the malefics or their aspects, etc., was just one part of it; the other was determining the (approximate) lifespan from the ruler of the hyleg (the alcochoden). My experience suggests that they were probably correct to do so, although alcochoden considerations/calculations are a real can of worms in themselves.

Here is the chart of Pope Francis with PD when he died.
According to Giuseppe Bezza and Marco Fumigalli, they suggested to consider an 'aphetic family', several planets contributing to life. Naturally like the Sun, Moon, ASC and Fortuna. And it is the Primary Directions, more often Mars and Saturn sending a ray or a bodily conjunction to the aphetic planets, the givers of life.
And a multiplication of anaretic rays.
I have listed below 4 aspects that seemed to stand out around the time of his death.
A Profection year in Scorpio, ruled by Mars.
Saturn Lord of natal 8th.
I have not checked the Solar Return or other considerations.

Source:
https://carta-natal.es/direcciones-primarias.php
https://af.cpptea.com/astrofox.php
----------------------
"The term 'apheta' comes from the Greek aphiemi "to throw", "that which is thrown", the giver of life, from birth, in the motion of the sphere, to fulfill the life force of its earthly journey, which will one day be interrupted by one or the other of its bad encounters, with one or the other of the planets 'anetera'... Note that the Sun can be anareta if it is injured by the conjunction of a malefic and if it is not saved by the help of a benefic. Sometimes, the Moon itself can act as anareta, when the Sun is apheta according to Rhetorius or when the Ascendant is apheta according to Ibn Ezra. Sometimes even Mercury, if it is linked to a malefic planet or a bad star, can behave like an anareta star. The lunar nodes are also likely to play this role, according to Ibn Ezra."
Danièle Jay, "Pour une astrologie de l'événement", p. 339-340

georgius and martin

it is interesting to me that this 'selective scrutiny' only happens when someone raises the topic of primary directions... what does this say about the idea of resurrecting the use of primary directions, if anything?? what does it say of the astrological observations made prior to my post?

see the notes from adb below..

Source Notes
Update: On 21 March 2013, Argentina astrologer Claudia Rizzi sent a copy of the original birth certificate, which gives 'veinte una' (21h) as birth time. This supersedes previous information which was based on hearsay. See images at right.

When asked how she got the BC, Claudia Rizzi replied: a friend gave me a link (http://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/areas/registrocivil/) to a government office where you can ask the birth certificate. I applied online asking Bergoglio´s and got a reference number. I only had to quote his birth date and place and the name of his parents. And of course, my name, my address, my ID, and purpose (investigation and education). That was all. I paid $75 (less than 10 dollars) and went personally to the regional office near my home to pick it up. That was all.

Previous: On 20 March 2013, Grazia Bordoni forwarded an email from Argentina astrologer Federico Rampino, who wrote: "Jorge Bergoglio nació en el barrio porteño de Flores, en Buenos Aires el 17 de diciembre de 1936, a las 17,10 hs, es el mayor de los cinco hijos del matrimonio formado por Mario José Bergoglio (contador, empleado en el ferrocarril) y Regina María Sívori (ama de casa), ambos inmigrantes italianos en Argentina, procedentes del Piamonte."

https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Pope_Francis

here is another religious figure Pope Benedict XVI with a possible 'rounded off time' of 415am - also rated AA, which was used in martin ganstens book on primary directions page 78..

https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Pope_Benedict_XVI

the way i see it, PDs are going the way of the dodo bird unless more 'traditional astrologers' show the use and relevance of them.. failing back on questionable data, even if it is rated AA at astrodatabank is an interesting position to take as cover for not presenting anything of relevance with regard to PD's.. or is it only shared when the data fits the preordained prerequisites for sharing them??

I often find it very strange that a birth certificate is rated AA. Did you ever attend a birth? I did several times. And for me it is self-evident that birth certificates are only an approximate time. I prefer an accurate rectification and think this is worth AA and birth certificates not more than biografies.

Anyway, 4 minutes in the radix wrong mean 1 year wrong in primary directions. So I do not see the use of directing presumptive wrong birth times.