Angels and Demons

The Camerlengo flies the helicopter straight up, and Langdon tries to work out where his destination is. There are two minutes left on the countdown. The Camerlengo says to Langdon, “I wish you had not come, my friend. You have made the ultimate sacrifice” (497). Langdon realizes that the Camerlengo’s intention was always to fly upward as far as possible.

Vittoria, who understood the Camerlengo’s plan, wonders with anguish why Langdon joined him in the helicopter. The St. Peter’s bells begin to toll, marking midnight. A pinpoint in the sky expands into a huge flash of light, accompanied by a thunderous explosion: The antimatter has exploded.

St. Peter’s Square is silent. Vittoria is devastated that Langdon was killed by her invention. Cardinal Mortati silently ponders miracles; he had not previously believed in them, but wonders if he was wrong. People in the square begin crying out and pointing; the Camerlengo is atop the basilica.

In the helicopter, before the antimatter explosion, the Camerlengo asks Langdon for the canister. Producing a key that was taped out of sight, he locks it into a metal cargo box and throws the key out of the window. The Camerlengo straps on a parachute, apologizes to Langdon, and throws himself from the helicopter.

Langdon takes the helicopter’s windshield tarp and throws himself from the chopper. He steers toward the Tiber river and manages to land in it, drawing on his experience as a diver to land as safely as possible.

A group sees Langdon fall into the river and pulls him out; amazingly he is still alive.

Cardinal Mortati considers the vision of the Camerlengo above him and struggles to make sense of it. The Camerlengo feels joy as he hears the cheers from below—he feels that he has provided many with an assurance of God’s existence. He prays on the roof, feeling overcome.

Langdon briefly comes to and loses consciousness again on the riverbank. He wakes up again in the hospital. A doctor introduces himself as Dr. Jacobus. With horror, Langdon realizes that Galileo’s Diagramma has been ruined. A nurse produces a camcorder that is playing audio on repeat. Langdon listens to it. Abruptly, he declares that he needs to go to Vatican City. He is taken in an ambulance helicopter.

Mortati sends the message to the Camerlengo, still praying on the roof, that the College of Cardinals awaits him. Many of the cardinals declare their wish that he be elected as Pope, Mortati, to the consternation of the cardinals, urges prudence; Ventresca is a priest, not a cardinal, and technically ineligible for the Papacy. The cardinals angrily declare that they have received a sign from God and that those laws do not matter.

Vittoria is shocked and delighted to see Langdon outside of the Sistine Chapel, and they kiss. Langdon arrives where the College of the Cardinals is gathered and presents the footage from the camcorder by connecting it to a television. They watch the altercation between Kohler and the Camerlengo, which Kohler filmed with a camera affixed to the arm of his wheelchair.

In the video, Kohler tells the Camerlengo that Leonardo Vetra’s diary contained notes on his meeting with the Camerlengo the previous month. Kohler says that Rocher knows the truth. Kohler, threatening the Camerlengo at gunpoint, wants him to admit that he had Leonardo Vetra murdered and orchestrated the deaths of the four cardinals and the theft of the antimatter canister. The Camerlengo, with conviction, declares that science and religion can never be allies as Leonardo Vetra believed. The Camerlengo explains that Vetra’s discovery about the scientific plausibility of creationism demeans God, and he had Leonardo Vetra killed for the good of mankind. Then, the footage shows the Camerlengo branding himself with the Illuminati diamond.

The Camerlengo remembers the distressing night when he was vomiting and tearing at his own skin after learning that the Pope, his mentor, was “a fraud” and “a common sinner” (529). The Camerlengo received word from God in this moment, guiding him toward his plan.

The Camerlengo walks into the Sistine Chapel and is surprised that he is not received joyfully or reverently. Then, he sees Robert Langdon.

The Camerlengo is shocked to see the footage of himself. He senses God telling him “the truth will set you free” (531). He is convinced that the cardinals will understand that he had needed to resurrect and then crush an ancient enemy in order to reignite people’s love and trust in the Church.

Vittoria accuses the Camerlengo of killing her father, and the Camerlengo tells her that his work was too dangerous. Cardinal Mortati, devastated, asks about the preferiti—the four favorite cardinals, and then about His Holiness—the Pope. The Camerlengo accessed the brands in the Papal Vault and instructed the Hassassin to do his bidding. The Camerlengo tells the cardinals that the late Pope was a “vile liar,” and he remembers the Pope’s admission of a shocking secret (538).

The Camerlengo further reflects on the painful memory; the Pope insisted that he needed time to make him understand. As the Camerlengo killed him, injecting him with medication and covering his mouth, the Pope seemed as if he had something that he needed to say.

The Camerlengo tells the cardinals that the Pope fathered a child. Mortati, who was the Devil’s Advocate for the Papal election, confirms that this is true. Mortati explains that the Pope used science to conceive the child, and he remained chaste. Mortati goes on to explain that the Camerlengo was their child.

Vittoria tries to leave the Sistine Chapel. She is surrounded by cardinals, who beg her not to reveal the secret. Mortati insists that she should be allowed to leave but asks that he break the news to the public about the Pope’s death and the Camerlengo’s shocking deception. 

The Camerlengo considers the news. He remembers seeing the Pope’s dead body and feeling no remorse. He reflected that the Church needed a young, powerful, and miraculous leader. He covers himself in flammable liquid from the Vatican oil lamps, prays in front of the crowds at the foot of the Sistine Chapel, and then lights a lighter in his pocket, setting himself spectacularly ablaze.

Mortati places an urn containing Carlo Ventresca’s ashes at the late Pope’s feet inside his sarcophagus. A fellow cardinal suggests to Mortati that perhaps he should be Pope. The cardinal says that they found no remains of Carlo Ventresca, and Mortati does not comment.

Glick delivers a final wrap-up outside Vatican City, where he concludes the story of the evening’s miraculous events, including the Camerlengo taking the antimatter canister in a helicopter and reappearing. He concludes by implying that the Camerlengo was briefly—by way of Romano Pontifici Eligendo, Numero 63 (Roman Papal Election Law 63): “Acclamation by Adoration”—voted as Pope by the Cardinals (561).

Langdon wakes from a dream in which he is following Vittoria up the stairs of the Roman Coliseum. He is in a comfortable and luxurious hotel room with Vittoria. Lieutenant Chartrand brings him a letter from the new Pope—Mortati—who requests his discretion about the events of the last 24 hours. The Pope gives Langdon the Illuminati diamond brand. Chartrand asks what happened in the helicopter, and Langdon chooses to lie and say that he cannot remember.

Vittoria and Langdon order room service and eat an array of delicious dishes. Vittoria propositions Langdon seductively and removes her robe.