CCRB RECORD No. 0002
Assassin's Creed II
Determination: Explicit — Deicide 3, Corruption 3
The final act is beating the reigning Pope in a fistfight inside the Sistine Chapel, mid-Mass.
Assassin's Creed II's ending is the most direct depiction of a real pontiff as antagonist in this catalogue. Rodrigo Borgia — the historical Alexander VI, pope from 1492 — is the series' Templar Grand Master, and the papacy is the instrument of the conspiracy rather than an institution the conspiracy has infiltrated. Ezio breaches the Vatican, interrupts the Mass Borgia is celebrating, and fights him hand to hand in the Sistine Chapel; both men use Pieces of Eden, Borgia's concealed in the Papal Staff. The Apple then opens a vault beneath the Vatican containing a recording from Minerva, a member of a precursor civilisation, who explains that her people were mistaken for gods by early humans.