i havent gotten back over here with the shitstorm this week but gentle consideration. that manuela runs the church as much if not more than rayn.er. no i wont elaborate (yet)
as far as the hierarchy goes she is, by her own volition, his right hand. more than that, she believes she is the only true disciple of the dark, and holds the church together as an archbishop does for a twisted papalcy. if maxwell was the mouthpiece and vision, she was the heartbeat, the ruthless hands to drive it into fruition.
it was her insistence that made the daedalus project happen, her hands that burned to create the dark star in the end, her who served to deliver the messages to the archives, her orchestrating many of the rituals that went across a global scale. more than once she refers to the church not just as maxwell’s but, especially in her last statement, as ‘ours.’
i do also think it’s important to note that it’s a respect that goes both ways, too. she is not his right hand by choice or accident, though it’s arguable if he was simply grooming and manipulating her into making the dark sun for his personal benefit - but imo there’s not much evidence for it?
and all that aside anyway i do think it’s very grlboss of her to take that power and those reigns to found the church 2.0 if only because without her there was no church to begin with.