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At CERN, a small container of anti-matter (yes, I know) is stolen while the word mourns the death of the Pope. Soon after, Robert Langdon is asked by the Vatican police to help in a case of kidnapping of the four cardinals who are the favourites in the upcoming election of the next Pope. The kidnapper promises to kill them at an hour interval between 8PM and 11PM, and that at midnight the antimatter would explode and destroy the Vatican and most of Rome. The clues indicate that he belongs to the Illuminati, a society of early scientists persecuted by the Church for their teachings and who has gone underground since then. In the meanwhile, the remaining cardinals start the conclave to elect the new Pope. Langdon deduces that the kidnapped cardinals will be killed at the location of a secret path of four steps (related to the four elements) across Rome that leads to the Illuminati's secret meeting place. They also find a proof that the Pope had been murdered. Langdon, Vittoria (a physicist from CERN who worked on the antimatter) and the police arrive too late to save the first victim, who is found under the Chigi chapel. They also arrive too late to save the second cardinal, murdered on St. Peter's Square, and the third one, burned alive in Santa Maria della Vittoria, where the kidnapper kills most of the policemen accompanying Langdon. In the meanwhile McKenna the Camerlengo fails to convince the cardinals to break the conclave and to evacuate the Vatican. Langdon manages to save the fourth one, Baggia, from being drowned in the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, who reveals they were kept prisoner in the Castel Sant'Angelo. Langdon and Vittoria go there with the police but get separated from them. The discover that McKenna is meant to be the next victim and they return to the Vatican through an ancient secret passage. They arrive just in time in the Pope's apartments to see McKenna threatened by Richter, the chief of the Swiss guard, who get killed by the police. Langdon then deduces that the antimatter is hidden in St. Peter's tomb. As only a few minutes remain before midnight, McKenna, having been trained in the Irish Air Force, takes the container and flies it up with a helicopter before jumping with a parachute. The explosion happens in high altitude, and the Vatican suffers only minor damage. The cardinals then consider making McKenna the new Pope, despite the fact he's not a cardinal. Just before dying Richter had given Langdon a key to access video recordings of the Pope's apartments, where Langdon discovers that the kidnapping has been organised by McKenna with the purpose of becoming the next Pope; the Illuminati is only a convenient common enemy to unite the Church against the perceived blasphemy of reconciling science and religion. Seeing no issue, McKenna commits suicide and the conclave elects Baggia as the new Pope.

Wikipedia

Robert Langdon is suspected by the French police to have murdered the curator of the Louvre, who has been found naked and surrounded with cryptic symbols. Langdon deduces from them that the curator was a grand master of the Priory of Sion, a secret society sworn to protect the Holy Grail. With the help of Sophie, a police cryptographer who believes Landgon is innocent, and based on the symbols, they find in the Louvre a key hidden by the curator and escape the policemen. The key leads them to a bank where they retrieve a device containing a hidden message and requires a password to open. To hide from the police, they go to Sir Leigh Teabing, an expert on the Holy Grail. Teabing convinces them that the Holy Grail is actually a woman, none other than Maria Magdalena, Jesus' wife, and that the Priory of Sion has been protecting the descendants of Jesus ever since. They are also chased by a religious fanatic from Opus Dei who attempts to kill them (and who already killed the curator), with the aim to destroy proof of the existence of Jesus' descendants. They escape to London using Teabing's private jet, hoping to find the clue to unlock the device. They are betrayed by Teabing's butler who works for Opus Dei. They finally discover that Teabing is the one who was tipping the Opus Dei with the purpose of bringing down the Catholic Church for centuries of deceit regarding the truth about the Holy Grail. Threatened by Teabing, they go to Westminster Abbey where Langdon finds the key to open the device and eventually causes Teabing to be arrested by the police. The message in the device indicates that the Holy Grail lies “beneath the Rose”, leading the heroes to Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, where they find the Priory of Sion's archives and proof that Sophie is the last descendant of Jesus. But the sarcophagus of Maria Magdalene is not there anymore, preventing any kind of genetic test against Sophie's DNA. In the end, Langdon understands that the rose is a reference to the “rose line” and that the sarcophagus is buried below the Louvre's inverted pyramid.