Pope Francis creeping towards 90 has been raising alarm with his adulation for ‘great Mother Russia’ and its imperial past which Ukrainians pointed out was at the heart of the Kremlin’s invasion of their country. On a visit to Mongolia he has now added Genghis Kahn to his much-to-be-admired list of empire builders because of his tolerance for different religions. The Pope skipped over the estimated 40 million deaths caused by Genghis Khan on his 13th Century territory-grabbing rampage across China and Iran. He also evidently avoids meets with Dalai Lama for fear of upsetting China. His leaning towards autocratic regimes sits awkwardly with his progressive reputation.
He’s now embroiled in a bitter argument in Spain as part of his campaign to lessen the autonomy of Opus Dei within the Church. Taken in isolation from his embrace-a-tyrant leanings it might be thought no bad thing to squash the secretive Catholic Opus Dei (which appears to have an outsize influence on US politics.) But it may also tap back into his Jesuit training since the Jesuits historically have fought a turf war with Opus Dei.
Pondering on how to put this jigsaw together astrologically – what my eye caught on the Pope’s birth chart, 17 December 1936 9pm Buenos Aires, Argentina, was his Sagittarius Sun conjunct North Node quincunx Pluto in his 1st house. Sagittarius is open-minded, philosophical, a thinker. Conjunct NN gives him leadership abilities. Neither of which sit easily with his controlling Pluto – it is one or the other, as he swings from Sagittarian enthusiasm and optimism to a Plutonic reverence for absolute power and control. For previous post on quincunxes see August 22 2023.
Ignatius Loyola, one of the founders of the Jesuit Order, 23 October 1491 OS was no slouch in the dominate and keep-a-grip department either with a Scorpio Sun Pluto conjunct in Scorpio square Saturn in Aquarius.
When Francis became a Jesuit in 1958 tr Saturn was exactly conjunct his Sagittarius Sun.
It’s a stretch but I wonder if his advancing years and declining mental grip might be reverting him to his old Jesuit roots. For previous Pope Francis post on influences – see 30 March 2023.
Opus Dei founded 2 October 1928, Madrid, has a defiant Libra Sun opposition Uranus; with an indulgent, acquisitive Jupiter in Taurus which is quincunx Sun and opposition Venus Mercury in Scorpio. It is heading into a rough few years with a panicky-failure tr Neptune square Mars in 2024/25; a jangled and jolted tr Uranus square Neptune in 2025 and a car-crash collision of sorts in 2026 with SA Mars conjunct the Sun.
I see that the October eclipses at 21 Libra and 5 Taurus are conjunct his 3rd house Mars and 10th house Uranus. I wonder if this reflects his reputation experiencing a sudden decline because of his politically charged remarks. Thanks Marjorie!
There was a recent article in Politico that suggested that Pope Francis might be deliberately taking a more neutral stance on Ukraine in an effort to pivot more to Catholics living in the Global South (a part of the world that has closer economic and business ties with BRICS and the Russian Federation. It’s also a region that has been inundated with pro-Russian propaganda and misinformation and many Global Southerners have drank the Kremlin Kool-Aid). And Argentina, Pope Francis’s birth nation, is one of 6 countries that will officially be joining the BRICS+ alliance in 2024.
I’m not sure what Pope Francis’s real reasons are for this debacle…but I do wish he would learn to read the room before he opens his big mouth…and if he’s unable to do that, then I really wish he would just zip it.
I’m pretty sure Ukraine isn’t the only nation offended by Pope Francis’s insensitive comments. There are many Indigenous ethnic groups in the Caucasus, Arctic, and Siberia who are still living under Russian rule (like the Circassians, Chechens, Volga Tatars, Siberian Tatars, Bashkirs, Yakuts, Ingush, Tuvans, Buryats, Avars, Ossetians, Udmurts, etc.) and praising Imperial Russia is probably a painful reminder of their own histories.
I’m not sure how the peoples of Central, East, South, and West Asia feel about the praise of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire…but I would assume some of them might take offense to it…since the Mongol hordes had a reputation of brutality and ruthless (very much like the Russians).