The Vatican confirms it has opened an investigation into its most famous cold case. (agent)
Vatican City:
The Vatican confirmed Tuesday that it has opened an investigation into its most famous cold case, the disappearance of a teenager 40 years ago that spawned countless theories and a hit Netflix series.
Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee, was last seen leaving a music class in Rome on June 22, 1983.
Decades of speculation followed over what happened to him, with theories blaming everyone from mobsters, the Freemasons to the secret services and a Vatican conspiracy – none proven.
The Orlandi family has campaigned tirelessly for the truth, and it was their demands that partly led to the new investigation.
A spokesman said on Tuesday that Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican’s chief prosecutor, had “opened a file partly based on requests made by the family”.
However, the family said they are still waiting to see what the new investigation will focus on.
Family lawyer Laura Sagro told AFP: “We don’t know what the Vatican will do… what papers they want to review, papers from the investigation by Rome’s prosecutors or if they have any files to share.” “
“The Vatican has done nothing so far,” she said, “I have been asking for years to be heard by the top people in the Vatican … but unfortunately some people are already dead.”
digging graves
One of the most widely circulated theories claimed that Orlandi was snatched by mobsters in order to pressure the Vatican to recover the debt.
Enrico de Pedis, head of the Maggliana gang, was suspected of involvement in his abduction and some speculated that the young man may be buried with him under a church.
Italian authorities went so far as to open his tomb in 2012, uncovering a box of bones. But DNA tests failed to find a match with Orlandi.
In 2019, the Vatican agreed to open two mausoleums in the small city state following an anonymous tip at the family’s request.
The graves of the two princesses who were to be buried there were also found empty in the Teutonic Cemetery.
The princesses’ bones were later found beneath the Teutonic College, but the Vatican said there was no sign of more recent remains.
Vatican girl
The twists and turns of the case were documented in a 2022 TV series by Netflix, “Vatican Girl”.
In it, Orlandi’s brother Pietro claims that Pope Francis told him the teenager was “in heaven” – a claim the family believes the Vatican knows what happened to her.
The documentary hears statements from witnesses who corroborate the theory that Orlandi was abducted.
In it, a friend also claimed that the teen had confessed a week before she disappeared to being harassed in the Vatican gardens by a man close to then-Pope John Paul II.
In 2017, conspiracy experts had already been driven into a frenzy by a leaked – but clearly falsified – document, which was allegedly written by a cardinal and pointed to a Vatican cover-up.
Another claim often repeated in the Italian media was that he had forced the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk who had attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981.
In a post on Facebook, Pietro Orlandi welcomed the new investigation, if it was indeed done with the goal of providing clarity, and “finally provide justice for Emanuela”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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