Apr 16: Joanne Clancy & Pope Benedict XVI

[Jim Eshelman]

Clancy, Joanne Stonnell. April 16, 1917, 7:00 AM EST, Erie, PA (A).
Benedict XVI, Pope. April 16, 1927, 4:15 AM CET, Marktl, Germany (AA).


Runners-up include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anatole France. (Charles Chaplin would be great here for his physical resemblance to Hitler, but we have no reliable birth time.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Benedict XVI, Pope. April 16, 1927, 4:15 AM CET, Marktl, Germany (AA).

Before diving into the chart of retired Pope Benedict XVI on this, the day of his death, let's reflect a minute on the historic nature of the papacy. The pope is not the local kindly priest (although, the current one, who took the name Francis, is making great strides to making that true). Historically, the pope is a king - and emperor - ruling over not merely a kingdom but a vast empire. For centuries, this was the most powerful monarch on Earth, the monarch before whom other monarchs bowed and often quaked, directly or indirectly ruling most of the known world dispatching armies to conquer the rest.

It is in this sense that the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was born to sit upon and rule from the Throne of St. Peter.

That he was born to an imperial nature is shown immediately by his Aries Sun and closely rising Jupiter. In the classic way of seeing royal charts dominated by dignified luminaries (especially Sun) and powerful benefics (especially Jupiter, but also adding Sun), Ratzinger had Sun exalted, Venus at home - some would argue Pluto exalted - with only a debilitated Mercury in Pisces to the contrary.

His political and social views were always absolutely clear. Foes called him "the Nazi Pope" while conservative allies turned toward him as their north pole. He was a rigorous defender of traditional Church values and a foe of social liberalism.

For decades, he was more powerful in the Church than nearly anyone after being created a cardinal at age 50 despite negligible pastoral experience. His identity and role in the Church was clear when he Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which - you may know - used to be called the Inquisition until that named became intolerably unpopular. It still has the same mission, though, which is to defend the Church from heresy; or, as Pope Paul III wrote when founding it, to "spread sound Catholic doctrine and defend those points of Christian tradition which seem in danger because of new and unacceptable doctrines."

In 2002, Cardinal Ratzinger became Dean of the College of Cardinals, placing him in the perfect position for selection as pope three years later. The politics seep out of every pore; remembering the historic nature of that office and its institution, this nothing we'd blink an eye at for any other rising political figure seeking to be named emperor.

Along with this, he was also a great scholar, one of the most exacting. He also sought to define Christianity as a "religion according to reason." We can expect this from his Virgo Moon (something he shared with Paul VI who made him cardinal) and his mars in Gemini square a Mercury-Uranus conjunction. These, and perhaps even the rising Jupiter in Aquarius, would make us think he would be the inciter of "new doctrine" rather than policing them; but something in him drew him to align with historic orthodoxy instead. He was adamantly opposed to moral relativism (which, for what it's worth, is the core of my own moral code), referring to a "dictatorship of relativism" that is a "particularly insidious obstacle" and the "core challenge facing the church and humanity."

He was born with Jupiter 1°25' below Asc, with it slightly closer for the Vatican. (Ecliptically, it was 0°22' die the Vatican, or mundanely 1°05'.) His Mercury-Uranus conjunction is also foreground.

His mundoscope deserves separate attention, especially on issues of power. If we had ONLY his mundoscope, with no Aries Sun to consider, we'd have a closely rising Jupiter plus a very close Sun-Moon-Mars T-square! Though ecliptically, his Sun is in Aries and Moon in Virgo, nearly half a sign apart, mundanely he has a partile Sun-Moon opposition, an important clue to his chart. Notice:

12°07' 1H - Sun
12°48' 7H - Moon
14°04' 4H - Mars

The only other things in the mundoscope are the closely rising Jupiter, the moderately angular Mercury-Uranus conjunction, and a close Saturn-Pluto square - a cagey, nimble power politician if ever I've seen one.