Cardinal Lamassé is found near a bas relief of "West Ponente" (west wind) in St Peter's Square he is branded Air, and his lungs have been pierced. Cardinal Ebner, the first to be executed, is found buried in the Devil's Hole in the Chigi Chapel in the Church of the Santa Maria del Popolo, once called Capella della Terra (Chapel of the Earth) he was branded with the ambigram of Earth.
In the film, each Cardinal signifies one of the four elements (earth, wind, fire, and water), and each Cardinal was executed respectively. The four preferiti consisted of Cardinal Ebner ( Curt Lowens) of Germany, Cardinal Lamassé ( Franklin Amobi), Cardinal Guidera ( Bob Yerkes) of Spain, and Cardinal Baggia ( Marc Fiorini) of Italy. Preferiti is a term that is used to refer to those considered to be the front-running candidates in the election of the new Pope. As a further bit of trivia about yet another system of tales in the mid-2010s, it was widely revealed that the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird (1960) was a something of a prequel to and more of a shortened edition of the previously-unpublished Go Set a Watchman (2015), so any adaptation of the 2015 novel could be seen as something of a chronological sequel to the existing adaptations of the 1960 novel, even though it was written beforehand. Roughly the same situation happened later with the 21st century (live-action) adaptations of the fantasy story The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937) and its fantasy epic sequel The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955) the each of the three volumes of the latter being adapted in the 2000s decade, and the former being adapted into a sequence of three movies in the 2010s. The Da Vinci Code novel was simply adapted to film first, in other words, and this was because it was the more popular of the two books and therefore more likely to appeal to fans of that book. The novel Angels & Demons (2000) was written and published before novel The Da Vinci Code (2003) was, and it is set prior accordingly, but its adaptation was filmed and released after the second novel's adaptation was. Matters become complicated when they learn that the preferiti, the four candidates for the papacy, have been abducted, and each one is going to be murdered during the four hours preceding the explosion. When they learn that the antimatter container, which is set to explode in six hours, is buried somewhere in Vatican City, Langdon and Bentivoglio's research partner, Vittoria Vetra ( Ayelet Zurer), travel to Vatican City in an attempt to find the container. Meanwhile, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon ( Tom Hanks) has been summoned to the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, where Silvano Bentivoglio ( Carmen Argenziano), one of their leading nuclear physicists, has been murdered, branded across the chest with the word "Illuminati", and the container holding his greatest achievement-antimatter-has been stolen. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret - and an explosive historical truth - will be lost forever.The Pope has died, and every one of the world's 165 cardinals have arrived in Vatican City to begin the conclave, the secret meeting during which the cardinals elect a new Pope. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion - an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci - clues visible for all to see - yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher.
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum.