There are a lot of big subjects that drives Angels of Demons forward. One of the biggest is one that always lies as a huge subtext powering the story in the book. I am talking about a conflict that has existed in numerous centuries, Science vs. Religion.
In the book we first meet Leonardo Vetra, a religious scientist in CERN. This is by many looked upon as wrong. Religion brings different messages about the origin of the earth and mankind than science, and vice versa. But Vetra on the other hand thinks of science as an answer to many of the questions religion can’t answer well enough - combining the results of science with the belief of a God. This seems to one of the biggest themes in Angels and Demons and exactly Leonardo Vetra’s opinion of this matter appears to be what Dan Brown tries to tell us trough his writing
Someone who definitely does not share the same opinions as Leonardo Vetra though is Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca, the person standing closest to the pope. After realising that the pope had a son, and not just any son, but a son borne by the help of science (artificial insemination) he lost it. The Camerlengo refused to see any positive connections between science and religion, therefore he decided to set in to place a conspiracy with the objective of defeating science once and for all. Carlo Ventresca is in many ways the opposite of Leonardo Vetra.
What is so beautiful with Angels and Demons is that one can appreciate the message of the book no matter if you are a believer, an agnostic or an atheist. You can more or less yourself choose from which view you will perceive Angels and Demons, if you are able to accept that religion and science can live alongside each other.
Picture taken from here: http://glossynews.com/top-stories/serious-commentary/201105180011/science-and-religion-cannot-coexist-together/
