Alex's Asteroid Astrology

They said it couldn’t be done, but on May 8^th, 2025, a conclave of 133 Catholic Cardinals, largest in history, elected an American as Pope!  80% of those qualified to vote (only Cardinals under age 80 were eligible) had been elevated by Pope Francis, including the Vatican sweepstakes winner, Cardinal Robert Prevost.  The conclave was also the most international in composition, with roughly two-thirds drawn from nations outside Europe, and 71 countries represented in total.

Sometimes our destinies are plain from the beginning.  Family members of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, relate how, as children, while others played Cowboys and Indians or King of the Hill, Bobby Prevost played Priest, with his mother’s ironing board as the altar.  By his teens, people began referring to him jestingly as the first American pope.  But jesters do oft prove prophets, and so it transpired.

Born 14 September 1955 (no time available), the cosmos seems to concur in Prevost’s calling.  The 21 Virgo Sun neatly bisects a square from asteroid Pappos 29448 (cognate to “Papa,” Italian for “pope”) at 6 Scorpio to asteroid Leona 319 (feminine form of Leo, his chosen regnal name) at 5 Leo, in semisquare to each, neatly encapsulating his future job (Pappos) and stage name (Leona) in self-defining (Sun) ways.  The cosmos can get a little OCD at times, however, applying layer after layer of reiteration of its theme ad nauseum, until it’s sure it’s made its point. 

And so with Robert Prevost.  Accompanying Pappos are asteroids Christian 192158 and Shepherd 23060, at 9 and 11 Scorpio, further identifying him in his pastoral role (Shepherd) for his global flock of 1.4 billion Catholics (Christian).  Even more eyepopping, Leona conjoins Uranus at 1 Leo (denoting the unconventional, unexpected, somewhat shocking choice), as well as asteroids Francis 2050, Bishop 2633 (both at 8 Leo) and Vaticana 416 (at 9 Leo). 

Francis just happens to be Robert Prevost’s middle name, but it also identifies Pope Francis, the man who first elevated him to a bishopric in 2015, and made him a Cardinal, thus eligible for the papacy, in 2023. His importance to Prevost’s bio cannot be overstated; it’s hard to see, without his intervention, how the latent potential of the other points could have been realized.  “Bishop” was especially crucial for Prevost’s career, not only as Bishop of Chiclayo (a Peruvian diocese), but in his follow-up gig as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the department of the Roman Curia which oversees the selection of new bishops.  Vaticana, of course, is named for one of the Seven Hills of Rome, upon which the Vatican is built, its eponym. 

Put it all together, and rarely have I seen such an in-your-face declaration of destiny by the cosmos.  Unless you count the conclave itself.

Robert Prevost’s karmic cosmic fingerprints are all over the chart for the selection of the 267^th pontiff, which officially began when the doors of the Sistine Chapel were locked and conclave began, at 5:46 PM CEDT in Vatican City on 7 May 2025.  Most outstandingly, asteroid Roberts 3428 (one of three “Robert” variants, for which there is no exact asteroid match) at 23 Cancer is just cresting the 22 Cancer Midheaven (MC), the point of highest elevation in the chart, the focus of all eyes, ruling career, reputation, status and place in the world.  This overarching placement certainly puts some Robert in the catbird seat – but which one?

I’ll digress for a moment before exploring that, and discuss the standout feature of the conclave, which is a pairing of asteroids Pappos and Chaple 11831 at 20 and 23 Virgo, with the Moon stuck between them, at 22 Virgo.  Pappos, as we’ve seen, references the papacy; Chaple is an alternate spelling of chapel, with the Sistine Chapel the time-honored stage for the selection of a new pope.  Both these points are at station (turning direct on May 11^th and 9^th, respectively), indicating a major turning point has been reached for the papacy (Pappos), which will begin in the Sistine Chapel (Chaple).  The Moon here signals that this is a public moment, of much interest to the populace, fraught with emotion. (In a quick flashback to the natal chart, please note that Robert Prevost’s 21 Virgo Sun lies front-and-center in this mix, granting further influence and importance in the proceedings.)

With both asteroids Brown 1643 and Black 11207 in square to this grouping from 21 and 22 Sagittarius, I thought a person of color might be chosen.  Asteroid Roberto 96257 (Italian/Spanish form of Robert) here also, at 20 Sagittarius, pointed me to Cardinal Robert Sarah, Archbishop of Conakry, in Guinea, Africa, already mentioned as a papabile (literally, “pope-able,” those deemed worthy of the papacy by their peers) after the death of Pope Francis.  Although not a preferiti (“preferred ones,” favored in the contest), he seemed in the running.

But Roberto’s position strengthened the candidacies of all Roberts; not only squared Pappos/Chaple and the Moon (which indicates popularity), it forms a T-Square, opposed Jupiter at 22 Gemini, ruling ecclesiastics and religion generally, also offering luck and positive outcomes.  (Jupiter, by the way, is conjoined by asteroid Christian at 29 Gemini, denoting which Faith was concerning Jupiter most at the time.)  A full Grand Cross is created with Saturn at 28 Pisces, indicating peer recognition and any type of Chief Executive, which the Pope surely is, head of the vast bureaucracy of the curia.

As things transpired, the conclave wasn’t quite ready to make that leap of faith to a person of color heading the Catholic Church, but the selection of an American was almost as shocking (as seen in asteroid America 916 at 29 Taurus conjunct unconventional, surprising Uranus at 26 Taurus).  I also see Roberto’s entanglement with Brown and Black as a nod to Prevost’s long ministry with people of color in Peru, of both Spanish and native descent.

And so to return to our narrative, because the deciding factor in which Robert would get the tiara seems to be a truly mindboggling conjunction of asteroids Roberta 335 (feminine form of Robert, our final variant) and Prevot 329935, at 7 and 5 Taurus respectively.  Prevot isn’t just similar to Prevost, it’s essentially the same word, given that its “o” is topped with a circumflex, indicating that a following “s” was dropped somewhere along the way (sorry folks, but inserting a diacritical mark into this text is way beyond this tech-challenged astrologer).  Having referents for both names combined is an extremely rare circumstance, typically indicating momentous doings are in the works.

But what really sells it here, is Roberta/Prevot on the fulcrum of a T-Square with Mars at 8 Leo and Pluto at 3 Aquarius, a celestial rendering of the fact that Robert Prevost (Roberta, Prevot) is about to be transformed (Pluto) into one of the most powerful (also Pluto) leaders (Mars) in the world.  Just for good measure, the cosmos tosses asteroid Roma 472 into this mix, at 1 Leo – as Pope, Prevost is also Bishop of Rome.

And speaking of bishops, the conclave chart sports a triple conjunction of asteroids Bishop and TRIUMF 14959 at 1 Cancer with Vaticana at 2 Cancer, squared another, composed of Neptune and Venus at 1 and 4 Aries with asteroid Victoria 12 at 2 Aries.  TRIUMF is named for an acronym of a Canadian science research facility, but functions very well as its phonetic match “triumph,” an unqualified success; while Victoria is named for the Roman goddess of victory, the root of our word. 

Well, no great shakes there, right?  It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that whoever won (TRIUMF, Victoria) would be a Bishop or Archbishop, since the vast majority of eligible Cardinals are.  And success would be contingent upon popularity (Venus) among the spiritually-inclined (Neptune), so again, no shock.  Still, I do feel it betrays a nicety of feeling in the cosmos, to spell that much out for us.

Yet we’re still missing the winner’s name here, and for that, we have to dig a bit deeper, back into the chart of Robert Prevost.  There we find an exact square between asteroids Prevot at 1 Capricorn and Church 10343 at 1 Libra, which fits snugly with that exact 1 Cancer Bishop/TRIUMF conjunction in a precise T-Square, to signify that the Big Winner (TRIUMF) in this ecclesiastic (Church) contest would be Prevost (Prevot).  The Aries points make this a full-fledged Grand Cross.  Oh – another nod to record-setting by this conclave here as well – also with the Aries stellium is asteroid Augustinus 17946 at 7 Aries, announcing that the winner (Victoria) would be the first from the Augustinian Order, a bill fit nicely by Robert Prevost, who began his religious studies at the St Augustine Seminary High School at age 14, proceeding to higher education at Villanova University, an Augustinian college, and formally joining the Augustinian Order in 1977.

As the conclave unfolded, all eyes (and cameras) were trained on the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, where a puff of black smoke would signal that the latest round of balloting had failed to find the two-thirds majority necessary for victory, while white smoke would trumpet to the world:  “Habemus papa!” (“We have a pope!”).

Not one to miss dotting it’s “i”s or crossing its “t”s, the cosmos kept us informed of developments in the vote as well.  For the first unsuccessful ballot, at 9:15 PM local tome on May 7^th, asteroid NOT 2857 at 1 Aquarius, a general disqualifier, was sextile the 0 Sagittarius Ascendant, and black smoke duly emitted.  For the second ballot, at 11:51 AM local time on May 8^th, NOT is opposed the 10 Leo Ascendant, and more black smoke ensues.  But for the third, successful round, at 6:07 PM local time that day, it was asteroid Yes 7707 which came into prominence, at 18 Aries, opposed the 24 Libra Ascendant.  Asteroid White 10730 at 8 Aquarius, squared Roberta/Prevot, was yet another indicator that the white smoke would pour forth for that candidate.

Crowds in St Peter’s Square and across the globe went wild at the sight, but it was another hour-plus before the name of the winner was announced.  That came at 7:13 PM local time, under a sky which showed that Roberta/Prevot conjunction (now at 8 and 6 Taurus) smack dab on the 7 Taurus Descendant of that moment, opposed the 7 Scorpio Ascendant, the point which governs our public image, how others see us.  Aligning with the new pontiff’s natal Pappos/Leona square (6 Scorpio-5 Leo), we see clearly that Robert Prevost (Roberta, Prevot) will know be known to history as Pope (Pappos) Leo (Leona), fourteenth of the name.