The Cosmic Obituary of Pope Francis
Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) died on the 21st of April 2025 at 7:35am in Vatican City. Although a fair amount of information about his life is publicly accessible, sometimes with people in his position this information is for the most part superficial. It isn’t easy to get to grips with this man’s inner life and his true personality. No doubt a highly determined investigator could find valuable information that isn’t widely available that would provide this deeper insight, but for now, we need to work with what we have, and let the chart do the talking.
The fact that the time of his death seems to be widely accepted as accurate and credible, affords us a rare opportunity here to see a full and complete death chart.
It is striking from the outset that Uranus is conjunct the Ascendant and a tight conjunction of the Moon and Pluto is conjunct the Midheaven. This simultaneous angularity of Uranus and Pluto is in itself something of a signature of a reformer. If you found this combination of factors in a birth chart you’d expect to see a person with quite an extraordinary career. Someone who would on the one hand wield power (Pluto conjunct MC) and who would also be something of a pioneer. A person with the courage to break with convention, even though not everything about this chart is unconventional or reactionary.
In fact, one interpretation of Saturn conjunct the North Node would suggest that the person is in fact in some respects extremely traditional and conservative.
“This aspect makes the natives conservative and careful to conform to prevailing social, religious and ethical values. The generally adhere to protocol as to the proper time and place for approaching those in well established positions of authority. Thus they may further their personal ambitions, but at the expense of enslavement to the lowest common denominator of culturally accepted standards.”
– The Astrologer’s Handbook by Francis Sakoian and Louis Acker
The Moon in sidereal Capricorn in itself could reinforce the interpretation of a person who is ambitious, industrious and also conservative.
And yet this is not the chart of a meek and docile person. Not only is the Moon conjunct Pluto an indication of, for want of a better term, emotional intensity, the T-Square of Sun, Mars and Pluto points to assertiveness bordering on brutality.
No doubt, this is a chart of contrasts; there’s aggressive energy intertwined with multiple indications of genuine altruism and sensitivity.
Using the default settings of Jyotish, Jupiter is in the 1st House. The person is a guru (the Pope, no less!) and Venus (a priestly Brahminical planet) is the ascendant lord, exalted in spiritual Pisces. And yet this romantic and sensual planet is closely conjunct austere Saturn. The person is a renunciant, a theme potently reinforced by the Sun occupying the 12th House.
Yet, this humble 12th House Sun is exalted in Aries, which implies leadership and courage. The “hero in the monastery”, you might say.
Jupiter’s role in the map is significantly enhanced by its sesquiquadrate aspect to the triple conjunction of Moon, Pluto and MC.
The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune in sidereal Pisces can either make you a hobo or monk. In other words, you’re either going to be a depressed and dysfunctional “quitter”, or you’re going to selflessly dedicate yourself to some sort of spiritual and selfless task. These are essentially the choices Saturn conjunct Neptune present you with.
One curious piece of information we find in his Wikipedia bio is the fact that he was in his early years, literally, a “bouncer and a janitor”. Regarding his work as a bouncer, Wikipedia does not elaborate on the setting and circumstances surrounding this distinctly Mars-Pluto activity of his youth, but it arguably affords us a little glimpse into the more aggressive impulses that are hard not to wonder about looking at this chart.
Then there’s the fact that the ominous Fixed Star Algol is rising. What could this mean? Was he tormented by a “Medusa” in his psyche? Saintly as we might expect a Pope to be, it’s not unlikely that, if only in his imagination, the spectre of evil was something with which he was somehow intimately familiar.
These initial observations are merely blowing some of the dust off the surface. Death charts, these Cosmic Obituaries; they read like birth charts.