Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 34
Overview
Bishop Aringarosa travels from Rome toward Castel Gandolfo while remembering a secret Vatican summons from five months earlier. The chapter frames Aringarosa as a conservative Church power broker threatened by the Pope's liberal reforms and suggests that the earlier meeting triggered the present conspiracy.
In the present, Aringarosa waits anxiously for word from the Teacher, expecting Silas to have obtained the keystone. His confidence that greater power is near links Opus Dei's ambitions to the hunt already unfolding in Paris.
Summary
Bishop Aringarosa arrives at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and is collected in an unmarked black Fiat. As the car heads toward Castel Gandolfo, Aringarosa reflects on how Vatican transports have become discreet, partly from cost-cutting and partly because open Catholic symbolism now feels dangerous in much of Europe.
The ride reminds Aringarosa of a summons he received five months earlier, when the Vatican ordered him to Rome without explanation. Aringarosa expected the meeting might be tied to Opus Dei's newly praised New York headquarters, but he remained wary of the current Pope, whom he sees as dangerously liberal and eager to modernize Catholic doctrine.
Aringarosa recalls his opposition to the Pope's reforms. Using Opus Dei's influence and money, Aringarosa had argued that softening Church law would weaken Catholicism, citing Vatican II as a disaster that reduced attendance, donations, and priestly vocations. To Aringarosa, the Church should provide strict structure rather than indulgence.
In the flashback, Aringarosa is surprised when his driver takes him not to Vatican City but to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence and home of the Vatican Observatory. Father Mangano, a young Jesuit astronomer, greets him and escorts him through a building whose blend of Church history, science, and tourist functions irritates Aringarosa.
Father Mangano leads Aringarosa to the Vatican Astronomy Library, where important private meetings are held away from Vatican City. Aringarosa recalls that the news he received inside shocked him and set off a deadly chain of events, leaving him to stagger out an hour later thinking that something catastrophic would happen in six months.
Back in the present, Aringarosa releases his clenched fists and tries to calm himself as the Fiat climbs into the mountains. He worries that the Teacher has not called and assumes Silas should already have obtained the keystone, while the bishop comforts himself with the belief that the power symbolized by his ring will soon be exceeded.
Who Appears
- Bishop AringarosaOpus Dei leader traveling to Castel Gandolfo, recalling a secret Vatican summons and awaiting the Teacher.
- Father ManganoYoung Jesuit astronomer who greeted Aringarosa and escorted him through Castel Gandolfo.
- The TeacherUnseen conspirator whose missing call worries Aringarosa during the ride.
- SilasAbsent Opus Dei monk whom Aringarosa expects to have obtained the keystone.
- The PopeLiberal Church leader whose reform agenda alarms Aringarosa and motivates his political resistance.