“It is an error to believe that the Roman Pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with, progress, liberalism, and contemporary civilization.” – Pope Pius IX
Pope – from the Greek root, “Pappas”, meaning Father
Catholic – from the Latin root,“Catholicus” meaning Universal in extent, or of interest to all.
February 28th, 2013, at 8PM CET (Central European Time) stands to be one of the most significant events in modern theological history, as well as a pivotal turning point for one of the world’s great religions, Roman Catholicism.
This event should be a memorable first for every resident on this planet, given the last time a similar occurrence of this heightened religious magnitude took place was 719 years ago.
On February 11th of this year, the 265th Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, announced to the world that February 28th would be the last official day, and 8PM the last official hour, before officially resigning as the currently reigning Pontiff, or figurehead leader of the Catholic Church.
Upon his election, not only shall the new Pontiff become the most recently bonded link that is part of a long, unbroken chain of a succession of Popes which reaches back some 2,000 years into the ancient Past, but Benedict’s successor shall also be fully cognizant of the immense mantle of responsibility his reign will immediately place upon him of leading the Catholic Church into the Future of the 21st century, as well.
The question to ponder is – Will this mantle of responsibility be too much for any given singular Pontiff, or Church leader to bear?
Before jumping to any immediate conclusions of the heavily Fated kind, we must once again analyze the content of the Prophecies of St. Malachy and apply them to 2 specific periods of history which have sparked the most controversial debate over their authenticity: namely, the last decade of the 16th century, and the last 40 years from the previous century to the present day.
1590: The Prophecies Resurface
As stated in Part II, St. Malachy of Armagh was shown a prophetic vision of the succession of Popes while on pilgrimage to Rome in 1139. Soon after beholding this mystical list, the Irish monk made sure the prophecies were written down and proceeded to place the hard copied list into the hands of the reigning Pontiff at that time, Innocent II.
The prophecies proceeded to then go missing for the next 400 years, supposedly within the Library of the Vatican and re-surfaced once again in 1590.
Many critics say the prophecies weren’t written in 1139 but in the years preceeding their discovery in 1590 due to the Conclave of Cardinals meeting that year and the descriptions of of the Papal powers matching a little too nicely with the actual Popes who reigned during that time.
When looking at an Ephemeris, or logging of the positioning of the planets, for the year 1590, two planetary factors hint that the re-surfacing of St. Malachy’s Prophecies did actually occur.
During that year, Saturn, the planet of structure, or in this case, hard copied things, and of Time itself was positioned in the sign of writing, Gemini and was in Retrograde motion, a dynamic which signifies looking to the past, in the earlier part of 1590. Also at that time, Uranus, the planet of sudden, “out of the blue” events was placed in the sign of both spirituality, but as we saw in Part II, the sign of Christianity as well, Pisces. When said formulaicly:
In 1590, Saturn (Hard Copy) was in Retrograde motion (Looking to the Past) in the sign of Gemini (Writing) and Uranus (Sudden Events) was in the sign of Pisces (Christianity).
To further support the Prophecies’ authentic discovery in 1590, when Saturn, the planet of structure, is placed in the sign of writing and books, Gemini, there is an emphasis on Libraries, which concurs with St. Malachy’s predictions re-surfacing from within The Library of The Vatican at that time.
The Prophecies & Succession of Popes: 1978 – Present Day
Some of the biggest critics of St. Malachy’s Prophecies claim the Latin phrasing used by the 11th century Archbishop to describe the succession of Popes, especially in the latter part of the 20th century, is indecipherable in more than a few cases, and bears no significance when compared to the Papal reigns during that time and into the present day.
Astrology begs to differ.
Pope John Paul I – “De Medietate Lanae”/”Of the Half Moon”
Pope John Paul I, whose birth name was Albino Luciani, or “White Light”, hailed from Northern Italy, more specifically from the province of “Belluno” or “Beautiful Moon”. John Paul I was elected Pope on August 26th, 1978, when the Moon was Half Full. Lasting only 33 days as Pontiff, John Paul I’s reign seemed to follow a Lunar Cycle, given the Half Moon Cycle had just ended on the date of his death, September 28th, 1978.
Pope John Paul II – “De Labore Solis”/”Of the Labor of the Sun”
In the Middle Ages, the word “Labor” was used to describe eclipses of the Sun, since it was presumed the Sun had to work harder in order to shine. Pope John Paul II was born in Krakow, Poland on May 18th, 1920 a date on which a near total eclipse of the Sun occurred over practically all of Europe in the morning of that day. On the day of John Paul II’s entombment, April 8th, 2005, a hybrid eclipse of the Sun occurred.
Pope Benedict XVI – “Gloria Olivae”/”Glory of the Olive”
Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict’s pre-Papal name) chose the name Benedict to commemorate Pope Benedict XV, who was Pontiff during World War I, as well as to honor St. Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine Order of monks who are also called “The Olivetans”.
The olive branch is an ancient symbol of Peace, more specifically, making Peace. Despite Benedict’s poor judgement regarding such furor raising actions as the reinstatement of ex-communicated Bishop Richard Williamson, who denied the Holocaust, as well as directly quoting Byzantine Emperor Manuel Paleologos II, who called the Muslim faith, “evil and inhuman”, upon being told of the Pontiff’s resignation, Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Yona Metzger, had this to say:
“I think he (Pope Benedict XVI) deserves a lot of credit for advancing inter-religious links the world over between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During his period, there were the best relations ever between the church and the chief rabbinate and we hope that this trend will continue.”
Petrus Romanus
St. Malachy of Armagh was prophetically shown a list supposedly naming the succession of Popes ranging from the year 1139 until the end of Time.
According to St. Malachy’s Prophecies, after Pope Benedict XVI, only one Pope remains left to lead the Catholic Church.
Each Papacy was given a Latin phrase to describe the reign of each succeeding Pope, with the exception of the last Pope on St. Malachy’s list.
The Irish mystic provides not only a name for this final Pope, but also gives the longest description of his reign, more than any of the others.
St. Malachy calls the next Pope “Petrus Romanus”, Peter of Rome, and has this to say about his upcoming reign:
“In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed, and the dreadful Judge will judge the people: The end.”
Within the top 8 choices of Cardinals who have the best chances of being the successor to Pope Benedict, two are named Peter – Archbishop Peter Turkson of Ghana and Archbishop Peter Erdo of Hungary.
Neither Peter hails from “the Seven Hilled City”, otherwise known as Rome, but the next Pope may not have been born Peter, but could possibly choose that as his Papal name.
The Astronomy of the Feast of St. Malachy
As stated in Part II, St. Malachy of Armagh died on the day he foresaw and confided to his friend, St. Bernard – November 2nd, 1148. Because of November 2nd having an association with The Feast of All Souls, the day which commemorates the life of the Irish mystic was moved back one day when he was canonized in 1199, making his feast day November 3rd.
And November 3rd has been quite the busy day astronomically….
November 3rd, 2003 recorded the biggest solar flare in history and the same date in 1994 had a solar flare along with a total eclipse of the Sun, just to name a few.
The Astrology of Resignation
As stated in Part I, Pope Benedict XVI officially informed the world of his resignation on February 11, 2013. Astrologically, this announcement of resignation can be interpreted as being given full benediction from The Universe. When casting an astrological chart over The Vatican on the day Pope Benedict announced his resignation, the event is marked with spiritual significance of the Highest Order.
In Part II of this series, I mentioned how the essence of Spirituality and all things Christ-like astrologically relate to the sign of the Cosmic Fish, Pisces and its naturally ruling House, The 12th House of Spirituality.
The chart cast for the day on which the world was told of Pope Benedict’s resignation cannot be seen as anything but a spiritual sign. The Ascendant, or Horizon was placed in the Spiritual sign of Pisces at the time of Benedict’s announcement, and an uncommonly large number of seven heavenly bodies were positioned in the 12th House of Spirituality, including the Sun, Moon, the planet of Love, Venus, the planet of action, Mars, along with the planetary ruler of the sign of the Ichthys, Neptune, placed in its naturally ruling sign of spirituality, Pisces.
The 3rd and last part of this series on the Pope’s resignation and the Prophecies of St. Malachy opens with the definitions of 2 words which mark one of the world’s great religions along with a rather limiting quote from the Pope whose reign was the longest in history, Pope Pius IX.
This series shall close by providing the root etymologies and meanings of 2 last additional words that at their core, are inherently Catholic:
Pontiff – from the Latin root, “Ponte” meaning Bridge + “Facere” meaning To Make
Amen – from Latin, Greek, Hebrew, & Old English, meaning It Is So or So Be It
Rather than end this series with an Armageddon-like conclusion rife with Doomsday insinuations, I’ll conclude by saying something a bit more uplifting. Whether the Prophecies of St. Malachy fully come to pass or not, the powerful astrological significance behind Pope Benedict’s resignation foretells that the bridge which connects this world to the Universal Source of Spirituality shall soon be presenting itself to Humanity – by each resident of this planet being given the opportunity of finding their own Pontiff – from within.
Amen.
Brad Kronen has written a large variety of astrological books ranging from its role in historical events to astrological dating guides for each sign of the Zodiac. He also has written books about an aspect associated with the Catholic faith that is not so well known – Mysticism. Click on the image below to purchase Brad Kronen’s book “The Mysticism of Mary” at amazon.com:
bradkronen.com 