Manuel Aringarosa is the head of the Opus Dei organization in The Da Vinci Code. In the film adaptation, Aringarosa is portrayed by Alfred Molina.
Biography
Bishop Aringarosa is a wealthy Spanish Bishop who heads Opus Dei in New York. He is also the man who helped Simon when he was injured and renamed him Silas, becoming a fatherly figure to him. Aringarosa craves to be the most powerful man in the modern era of Christian faith by rusting the Teacher to use Silas to manipulate the Priory of Sion to reveal the location of the Holy Grail (the ashes of Mary Magdalene) so it can be destroyed, and the Vatican will be forever thankful to him. He offers to pay the Teacher 20 million euros in Vatican bonds and doesn't realize what all his actions will cost him later on since he is blind to them due to his craving for power.
His influence on Opus Dei and the world.
Aringarosa is a very strong Christian believer and is the leader of Opus Dei. Aringarosa is a smooth talker with the press and therefore can easily cover up the more radical practictioners in the house that press believe exist little do the press know that their theories are proven. Aringarosa has actually put enough influence into opus dei to make be patronized by the pope.