The Mars-Pluto opposition was exact in the early hours of the day. The New Moon in Taurus follows in the evening. The New Moon forms a t-square with the Mars-Pluto opposition.

Yesterday we witnessed the funeral of Pope Francis. Heads of state were gathering, cardinals were dressed in red and gold. But Francis was above all a humble pope of the common people and the poor. Pope Francis died on Easter, which was startling in itself, but the chart cast for the time of his death is one of the most astonishing in a long time.

The unpredictable Uranus, one of the emissaries of change, was at the ascendant of Pope Francis’ death chart. Francis had been discharged from the hospital and just the previous day he appeared in public, so his death came as a schock.

It was the Last Quarter Moon, which is the phase of letting go, the time of release and transformation. The Moon in early Aquarius had just opposed Mars in Leo, squared the Sun in Taurus, and now conjoined Pluto in Aquarius. Pluto means transformation. The Moon symbolizes the common people, crowds, and matters of a public nature. The Moon-Pluto conjunction was exactly at the Midheaven, the highest position of the chart. In addition, in the first degree of Aquarius, as a part of the conjunction and the t-square, was the centaur planet Hylonome, the symbol of grief.

Centaur planet Hylonome was discovered 30 years ago, in February 1995. It is a dark body with the orbital period of 126 years. Astrologer Eric Francis Coppolino has written about the proving moment for Hylonome during the funeral of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 (The Mountain Astrologer, Oct./Nov. 2012). Tens of thousands of mourning Palestinians attended the ceremony in Ramallah. Eric was watching the funeral on TV at the moment of the Scorpio New Moon conjunct Hylonome. He wrote: “Hylonome has been connected by Centaur specialists to themes of grief and the process of working through grief. This is a theme endemic in the Centaurs, but especially pronounced with Hylonome. As the New Moon took shape conjunct Hylonome in Scorpio, we were witnessing one of the most vibrant public outpourings of grief since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, almost a decade earlier.” Eric particularly highlights the keywords of astrologer Juan Revilla, “the cry of the poor”.

In Pope Francis’s natal chart, his Midheaven, the cusp of the 10th house, is in the first degree of Taurus. The 10th house represents one’s most cherished goals and the “calling” in the life. At the time of his death, the transiting Sun was conjunct his Midheaven, and all the planets of the transiting t-square were affecting it. Right at the pope’s Midheaven there is the trans-Neptunian Praamzius, the minor planet of peace.

In his final Easter message Pope Francis wrote: “There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.”