On Sunday 17 December 2023, a lightning struck the statue of St. Peter on the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary, which is located in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, the former diocese of the current Pope Francis.
The lightning broke the halo on the head of the Apostle Peter and tore off his right hand holding the key, which Catholics see as a symbol of papal authority.
The resource notes that the incident occurred on Pope Francis' birthday and the day before the publication of the Fiducia Supplicans declaration which opens up blessings for gay couples.

Catholic author Taylor Marshall posted the story on his YouTube Channel, commenting that the lightning not only happened during Francis’ birthday and one day before the publication of the controversial document Fiducia Supplicans, “but is also in his home diocese: Bergoglio was Archbishop and Cardinal of Buenos Aires.”
Was this a sign from God what does the astrology say?

I notice that Jupiter still retrograding ruler of Francis 9th house is exactly over natal Uranus,& exactly over SA Venus his profected ruler for the year. I would say that of all planets Jupiter especially as ruler of 9th & Uranus the ruler of Heavens
would indicate to me that this was a divine warning.With SA Venus the planet of sensual pleasures there too reinvigorates the message
This occuring at the time of his solar return underlines the message.
SA MC over natal Pluto/his position of authority is ending this year .Using the Age point as outlined in Anthony Louise excellent book the Secrets of Predictive Astrology using William Franklands techniques he would be at 15 degrees of Taurus which sextiles his night chart malefic Saturn in Pisces .Ill health may force him to step down this year.

lightening strike as omen?? we are back to trying to read omens from the sky- slightly different then regular everyday astrology, but it does ask the question - what do you believe in? i take it this is a ''baaaaaaaaaad' omen? what does pope francis's astrology chart have to say about this as far as you reckon? i mean - does he die or does he live for another few years? lolol..

Astrology began in Babylon reading omens in the sky to interpret the will of their Gods at least my question is true to the roots of astrology. Some people have problems with a God but not with a pantheon of Gods. Hey Woke Astrology here we come!

i liked your question zosma and actually looked at the solar return for pope francis shortly after you made this post.. i can offer nothing conclusive astrologically, but i appreciate the fact you picked up on all this and shared it here... cheers james

Hi Zosma -

The claims about the lightning strike and that it was supposedly God's message to Pope Francis about the release of the Fiducia Supplicans declaration (which allows for non-liturgical blessings of gay people) interested me - a gay man - so I looked for news coverage of it. I couldn't find any. I did find social media hype around it and some blog posts. Apparently, it's been determined that the halo was removed prior to the date in question, and as far as the strike goes, some seem to confirm it, and some seem to question the claims.

Please see the details for yourself on the blog of Ronald L. Conte Jr., Roman Catholic theologian and Bible translator. It's the best report I could find insofar as someone trying to piece together the truth.

That said, I can contribute a slice of astrology to consider. The Pope did undergo his Solar Revolution on Dec 17 (see chart below). He also entered a Libra (Tropical) profection year that day. His radix (also below) features Mars in Libra (essentially debilitated), so although Venus is the time lord of the profection, Mars is also activated. As you can see in his Solar Revolution, Mars is angular and opposing the Midheaven: we will probably see the story of people opposed to his public positions continue to play out this year. Interestingly, as far as the divisive intent behind the rumors about this incident are concerned, Mars is in the 3rd house of his radix and co-rules the derived 12th from his 10th (hidden enemies of his reputation and status). You can also note that Mercury, which conjoins his radix DESC (open enemies) and rules the 12th (hidden enemies) and 3rd (rumors, gossip) is close to its radical position in the Solar Revolution. This Solar Revolution Mercury is also conjunct his radical Jupiter, ruler of the radical 9th (derived 12th from 10).

Thanks, Jason for your intelligent & interesting reply & the solar return work I found illuminating,
My main interest in raising this question is; can a horoscope show the hand of God using Pope Francis as an example?
In my own life experience, I say Yes absolutely. Or does it show the outworkings of Faith? As a 9th house matter channeled via the collective unconscious, then God is not a being but an accumulation of the collective belief system & these belief systems interact mysteriously in the natural world. However, my own experience with an activation of a Yod finger of God aspect pattern in 2011 suggests no. It is not some mysterious collective energy but a real creator being that has our interest at heart. Astrology has become disconnected from the Creator God in our time, which if it were not for Jews/Muslims/Christians of the past ironically would not exist today. It seems we are in the minority of believers in a Creator God & astrologers.

Zosma, thanks for making your point of view and reasons for sharing somewhat clearer.

I can't say I agree that astrology has become disconnected from "God" because I don't believe that's possible. Moreover, the particular faith (or lack thereof) that individual astrologers profess means little to me. I'm more interested in folks' demonstrable humanity. So we may need to agree to disagree here, and that's fine. We can still share in astrological discussions.

I'd like to add one more article to consider. Pope Francis denounces ‘backward’ attitudes of conservatives in U.S. Catholic Church. From the article: Francis made the comments in a private meeting with Portuguese members of his Jesuit religious order while visiting Lisbon on Aug. 5; the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, which is vetted by the Vatican secretariat of state, published a transcript of the encounter Monday.

As mentioned previously, Francis' radix features Mercury conjunct the DESC; we can expect Mercury to give us information about public disputes he may become involved in. He just so happened to be in a Virgo/Mercury profection year in 2023. Notably, his Mercury applies to a dexter (right-handed; BACKWARD) square with Mars. In a derived chart, this would put Mercury on the 'opponent's' ASC and Mars in their 9th (religious views). Mercury in Capricorn (Saturn's domain) could certainly be taken in one sense to symbolize conservative views. Its proximity to Jupiter and both being disposited by Saturn in Pisces (Jupiter's domain) adds religious/ideological flavor. Mars in Libra (Venus' domain) could be an apt symbol for "culture/social institution" war.

On the day that these comments were made, Aug 5th, transiting Mercury and Mars were both in Virgo (the sign of the Pope's annual profection). Transiting Mars applying an opposition to the Pope's radix Saturn (ruler of his 7th house and dispositor of Mercury):
And if we turn to the continuous profections in effect on that day, note profected Mars' position in relation to the radix (also, as a bonus, check out profected Mercury, Jupiter and the ASC's (and even the Sun's) positions in relation to the radix, too):
It's an interesting story with regard to the current climate behind the scenes of the Catholic Church, that's for sure. There's no doubt to me that the astrology seems to be in synch with and revealing something about it.

Hi Jason
It's strange but somehow feels right that we seek astrology to find direction in the Catholic faith, that's a first I'm sure, like everything in society the fallibility of worldly leaders stinks, & leads to the wilderness. Do we go back? do we follow the blind? In the end, follow your heart, God knows your heart.
I will prepare some more charts that link divine retribution & the astrology of the retributed moment. God knows we are spoilt for choice /Notre Dame/York Minster/ even my own saintly statue was attacked decapitated & face of Christ struck off but this was the enemy at work as I came too close to the truth with the saintly help, as my partner prayed to the saint for confirmation that my interpretation of what transpired was correct the head & face of Christ materialized on the table in front of us both. So now I have an interest in signs to show us whether are we in alignment or has the enemy tricked us /not only in our personal lives but in the world at large/especially as we are coming into the end times. how I present things requires deep reflection & is a path in itself.

Hello again Zosma

Zosma wrote: like everything in society the fallibility of worldly leaders stinks, & leads to the wilderness. Do we go back? do we follow the blind? In the end, follow your heart, God knows your heart.

I appreciate this sentiment. Thanks for sharing from your heart.

Zosma wrote: I will prepare some more charts that link divine retribution & the astrology of the retributed moment... how I present things requires deep reflection & is a path in itself.

I look forward to contemplating them and reading your accounts. It's a fascinating topic, really.

Notre Dame fire, no natural disaster, it seems to be man made disaster.
Note the approaching Saturn /Pluto South Node conjunction square the 8th house Sun Uranus conjunction.
Saturn Pluto conjunction was coming into force when The Federal Reserve act was signed & the Fed came into its own as Saturn opposed Pluto.

Gerald Celeste " When all else fails they take you to war"

So here we have Mars in the 9th house in Gemini high up in the Chart, & we had the fire begin high up in between the twin towers of the Church. The ninth is the faith of Paris & fourth from the 9th we have the moon in Virgo conjoining Regulus The fourth is the home or base of faith /Notre Dame the great lady/ Our Lady the moon on Regulus, Natally in the 12th of loss, Mercury its ruler is fallen in Pisces on the unfortunate star of Scheat. conjoined to Venus in the 7th.the great affection of the public in Paris & the sadness & tears shed.

The Mars is Antiscia the north node contra antiscia the Pluto Saturn conjunction
As we saw during Covid the Saturn Pluto conjunction the bankers who control the government the media the pharmaceuticals ( that is only my understanding )Isolated people generated fear & division prevented people gathering closed down churches & flooded the world economy with liquidity to prop up the failing fiat currency system.
Burning down Notre Dame was a first step in undermining peoples faith as the pictures bounced around the world.


911 Saturn Puto opposition with Saturn in Gemini,again Sun square the Pluto/Saturn combination from the 12th suggesting government complicity as in the Notre Dame chart. The consequence of this black swan was to start a war in Afganistan where the bankers can pump money in to support the financial system, As Covid was followed by the Ukraine war & the Hamas Israeli conflict.

So to balance things out I believe it is important to realise that evil is also at work & like the saying goes Money is the root of all evil & those who have been given the permission to create it from nothing & charge the government interest for all the loans to rebuild bombed out countries & build those million pound missile weapon systems. The Saturn Pluto cycle links to these leeches of humanity.

Thanks for the charts and commentary, Zosma.

There is less and less trust in institutions among the people, and I think we both agree on that. The thing that seems to set us apart is our opinions on what's at the root of this. I don't want to get into thrashing out our different points of view here on an astrology forum (debating on the internet isn't going to save the world, unfortunately), so I'll just leave what I feel is a variance in our opinions at: I respect your right to interpret things for yourself.

I feel like looking at astrological charts (and the world in general) can be a lot like a Rorschach inkblot test sometimes. We can see what we want to see based on our own thoughts and views. Analysis bias can happen to anyone, even the most technical of us - errors in the fields of data analytics and data science are great examples of this.

I wrote a mundane astrological column for a publication for a little over a year, and honestly, looking at world news all the time and trying to make sense of so many tragic events was exhausting. Trying to write about them from an unbiased point of view? Impossible! Unless, of course, I could develop a way to describe things from the perspective of a machine with no stakes in the human game (which I couldn't). We're in a world where there's famine and hunger and people are dodging bullets and having their nails pulled out in dungeons so it's very hard for me to place any high value on the work that I do to write a song. Yeah, I work hard but compared to what? (Leonard Cohen) I ended up needing a break from it all for a while - to focus on where I could make a difference, things closer to home.

Ultimately, I agree with what you mentioned in a previous post, we have to "follow our hearts."

Life is complex.

Hi Jason
Don’t be so hard on yourself I don’t expect you to change the world , that is shaped by my faith in Mother Mary , she has done so much already. If you only knew.
Regards