WARNING: The following contains spoilers for 30 Coins Episode 5, "The Double," now airing on HBO.
HBO's 30 Coins has been messing with Father Vergara's mind after he reconnected with Cardinal Fabio Santoro at the Vatican. They studied together years ago in Rome, questioning the tenets of Christianity because Vergara felt like the Church had many secrets and expected them to be blind followers.
Now, as Santoro explains to him why he needs to follow their Antichrist cult, Vergara is shocked to learn what the group's most powerful relics are.
Earlier this season, Vergara found the Gospel of Judas, but he seemed cynical about it, telling Paco and Elena in Pedraza that the Cainites cannot be trusted. While he's back in Rome, Fabio wants Vergara to join them because they're close to assembling all of Judas Iscariot's coins, which will allow the group to bring down believers and finally expose the lies they've been fed.
He introduces Vergara to a library that contains a ton of ancient texts, but the most important is the actual writings of Jesus. Vergara can't believe he found the Gospels of Christ, and Fabio confirms there are secrets inside on all sorts of things that would allow people to work miracles. He calls it magic and deems Jesus a man, a sorcerer and someone who duped the masses. Fabio tells Vergara by reading them, he too can increase his power, which reaffirms their belief that there was no son of God -- the Creator and the Devil were one and the same.
These writings are why Fabio is able to use telekinesis to levitate and fling around their old colleague, Sandro, when he comes to rescue Vergara. But still, this isn't enough to turn Vergara, who stabs Fabio and flees with his buddy. Unfortunately for them, Fabio uses his powers again, healing himself and turning a priest into a monster to hunt them down. It's at this point the second relic, the Spear of Longinus, otherwise known as the Spear of Destiny, comes into play
This holy lance stabbed Christ on the cross and holds a lot of power, which is why Vergara grabs it from the relic chamber and stabs the spider-creature chasing them. He deduces that weapons that can harm Jesus can also affect things raised by his abilities, a revelation that shocks Fabio as he realizes how quickly Vergara understands the supernatural game they're playing. Vergara ends up making a break for it when Sandro dies in the escape, and he's now left worried because he doesn't have any weapons of his own to fight back
Starring Eduard Fernández, Megan Montaner, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Macarena Gómez, Pepón Nieto and Manolo Solo, 30 Coins airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and is also streaming on HBO Max.