Robert Langdon, #1
Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
Contents
92
Overview
The conclave reaches an impasse after three failed ballots and the continued absence of all four preferiti. Mortati hopes the opening doors mean the candidates have arrived, but the camerlegno instead enters the sealed Sistine Chapel in an unprecedented breach of procedure.
His announcement that the cardinals must be told something shifts the crisis from a stalled election to an imminent revelation inside conclave itself.
Summary
Inside the Sistine Chapel, Cardinal Mortati faces a conclave crisis after three ballots fail to elect a pope. With all four preferiti absent, Mortati realizes the cardinals have no viable path to a two-thirds majority and silently prays for the candidates to arrive.
When the outer door bolts begin to open, Mortati and the College of Cardinals turn toward the entrance. Because conclave doors may only be unsealed to remove the gravely ill or admit late cardinals, Mortati believes the missing preferiti are finally being brought in and that the election may be saved.
Instead, the camerlegno enters the sealed conclave, shocking the cardinals because no camerlegno has ever crossed that threshold after the doors were sealed. The camerlegno walks to the altar and announces that he has waited as long as possible and that the cardinals have a right to know something, signaling a major revelation.
Who Appears
- Cardinal Mortatioversees the conclave and fears no pope can be elected without the missing preferiti.
- The camerlegnobreaks precedent by entering the sealed conclave to make an urgent disclosure.
- College of Cardinalsgathers in the Sistine Chapel, shocked by the failed ballots and the camerlegno’s entrance.