I wasn’t planning on writing anything about the new Pope Leo XIV until I saw the chart of his inauguration Mass.
As far as I am aware it is usual to time the start of the Pope’s tenure from the Habemus Papam moment, when white smoke comes up from the Vatican. We have that timed to the minute, and I will briefly talk about it later.
The situation with the new Pope Leo XIV is complicated by the fact that we do not have a timed birth chart – we have a date and no birth time.
On a whim I took a look at the timed chart for Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass, and there is one feature that jumped out at me, and that triggered this post.
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Up front, I need to make it clear that there is no way I can sort out my own personal experience and perspective on the Church and the world situation here, and that will likely come through in my interpretation. I was received into the Catholic Church in February 2023, and my perspective is that of an actively involved and somewhat disillusioned recent convert. I can say that I look at the Church as an insider, so I do not see the same picture seen by those who are outside of the Church and get to see only the very distorted image that gets painted in the mainstream media.
I’m going to go ahead with my analysis partly because what I see in the chart surprises me given what I’m hearing in the Catholic press about Leo, and most of what I am writing had not occurred to me before I saw this chart. I am trying to justify what I say based on solid astrology.
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I think we can read this chart for the general tenor characteristics of Leo’s tenure, and I think it also gives us a window into the state of the Church right now as he takes office.
Here is the chart of the inaugural Mass, starting 10 am on Saturday, May 18.
The pivot of the chart is the Lot of Fortune at 0 Aries 20, right on the Aries point, in close orb of both Saturn and Neptune and very close to their midpoint, all on the 9th house side of the Midheaven. When you have planets very close to Fortune like this they are strongly emphasized and they tie together the overall energies of the chart.
The Saturn/Neptune conjunction on the Aries point is the main focus of the energies of the major planetary configurations of the next few years, and this chart is right on that focus.
Expect the changes of the next few years to hit the Catholic Church very hard.
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Looking at overall features of the chart, Venus is conjunct the Midheaven in Aries. This is likely related to the emphasis on peace and unity I am seeing in the press, and Venus is highly emphasized. However, Venus here is weak in essential dignity, in detriment and off-balance. She is in her own terms, and both the Asc and MC are in the terms of Venus, so this emphasis on peace and unity is likely to continue, and the three all being in the terms of Venus makes me think this is a coordinated effort. Venus being in detriment could speak to the currently unstable and divided state of the Church – the emphasis on peace is there but I question how deep it goes or how effective and balanced it is.
The ruler of the MC and Venus is Mars in Leo. Mars has no essential dignity in Leo, but it is a hot dry planet in a hot dry sign. This hard and more severe Mars is sesquiquadrate (3/8) to the Saturn/Lot of Fortune point. There is a tension here, a lack of ease. We may see that Pope Leo has a more severe side than is now visible.
The Ascendant is in late Cancer. Her ruler the Moon is averse the Asc, not making a whole sign aspect , and is in the 7th. The exalted Lord of Cancer, Jupiter, is in detriment in Gemini and averse the Ascendant in the 12th house. I don’t think we are going to see any warm personal side of this Pope.
The Sun is in Taurus, conjunct Uranus, with both being within around a degree of the malefic fixed star Algol – that is unsettling and explosive.
Also, the Sun/Moon midpoint is 29Pi29, dead on Saturn and Fortune, and that is the focus of the energy of this chart.
The outer planet configuration of Saturn and Neptune, sextile both Uranus and Pluto, all changing signs at around the same time, is the big planetary event of this period. In this chart that includes the Sun and Moon in close orb, so this chart is strongly bound up with the larger planetary shifts going on.
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There is a big shift with both Saturn and Neptune changing signs and getting a lot more debilitated. Saturn is going from peregrine to fall, and Neptune is going from a cold wet sign where it is very strong, to a hot dry sign where it is very weak.
Neptune weakening I take to mean a dis-illusioning period, where deceptive and false narratives are uncovered in the hot dry light of dawn.
Saturn in fall is the fall from power, the loss of credibility and restrictive control of long established powers. Saturn in fall has connotations of disgrace, loss of reputation and power, and possibly prison.
I take Saturn/Neptune together as the uncovering and discrediting of power and oppression that is exercised through falsehood and deception.
And the Catholic Church in this chart is right in the cross-hairs.
This is likely going to be a very difficult and turbulent period for the Church. Given the larger configurations the emphasis on peace and unity is weak, paper-thin and off balance.
I expect to see some nasty secrets of the Church uncovered, and there are a number of areas where that could happen. It could be financial since the ruler of the 2nd house, the Sun, is conjunct Uranus and Algol, so we could easily have shocks and surprises there. I am guessing, but just guessing, that the Vatican’s financial situation is in a lot worse shape than anyone is letting on. Obviously the Church is not alone in the West in being vulnerable in that area.
This is going to be a turbulent period, where the Church faces an overall loss of power, authority and credibility. I think the fractures in the Church go far deeper than people care to admit, and attempts to paper them over with sweet sounding platitudes will carry little conviction.
The Moon, ruler of the Ascendant, stands for the common people, not the church hierarchy but the laity, the ordinary members – and they are in the 7th house of adversaries of the church, and they are averse the Ascendant meaning they feel like they have very little voice or input. I suspect that many laity are far more disillusioned and distrustful of the Vatican and church hierarchy than people realize. We are in a crisis of authority and credibility.
There is a likelihood for serious scandals as things get uncovered (Saturn/Neptune) – we already mentioned financial, but there are also gender and sex issues including sex abuse scandals. Since the Church is so very tied into the overall political structure in Europe, the Church’s position may be affected as the situation in Europe deteriorates further in the next few years.
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I want to briefly look at one more chart. This is a biwheel of the Habemus Papam moment, the white smoke chart announcing Leo’s election. I am pairing this with Leo’s natal chart, and omit the angles and lots from that since we have no birth time.
There are a couple of red flags here that tie in with what we saw in the mass chart.
The Midheaven of this chart is Cancer, very near the Ascendant of the Inaugural Mass chart, and the MC ruler the Moon is peregrine in Libra and in the 12th house – again, the laity feeling a lack of voice and of power, feeling invisible. Uranus is very near the Midheaven of this chart, pointing to more instability and surprises, and possibly rebellions within the Church.
The Ascendant is Libra, ruled by a weak Venus in the sixth house, and natal Neptune is practically dead on the Ascendant of the white smoke chart. Again, all is not as it seems. The initial narrative of a hoped-for new era of peace and unity may be wishful thinking at best and deliberately crafted media manipulation at worst. Neptune on the Ascendant is a sign that the person we are seeing is a media fiction.
The Ascendant is also near his natal Mercury/Neptune midpoint – again, a carefully crafted narrative.
After seeing the two charts together, the white smoke chart and the inaugural Mass chart, especially with the Midheaven to Ascendant connection, I am now very suspicious of the new-peace-and-unity narrative being floated about Leo. Based on these charts that feels contrived and possibly a deliberate piece of media manipulation.
As I said, I think the Church is likely in for a very turbulent and pivotal next few years.