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After the apparent miracle over St. Peter’s, the camerlegno descends the Royal Staircase toward the Sistine Chapel with the help of the Swiss Guard. Hearing singing in the square, Carlo Ventresca believes his plan has moved the faithful and thanks God for giving him the strength to act.

The camerlegno reflects on the logic that drove him: humanity has forgotten true miracles and replaced faith with technology and intellect. He believes God challenged him to restore belief through acts that mirror Christianity’s central pattern of horror and hope.

Carlo remembers the night that began his descent into zealotry. After learning a devastating truth about the Pope, whom he regarded as a father, the camerlegno accused him of breaking his vow to God. Unable to hear the Pope’s explanation, Carlo fled through the Vatican in agony and ended up before St. Peter’s tomb, where he prayed for death.

In that state of betrayal and anguish, the camerlegno believed he heard God asking whether he would die for God, the Church, and mankind. Carlo answered yes, interpreting the silence that followed as a command to restore humanity’s faith. This perceived calling became the justification for everything he later did.

Now cleaned, bandaged, dressed in white, and dulled by morphine, the camerlegno enters the Sistine Chapel convinced he has been chosen by God. He expects joy or reverence from the cardinals, but instead reads bewilderment in their faces; then he looks to the altar and sees Robert Langdon.