That means it is the country's most notorious unresolved mystery.

Both have become magnets for crackpots, conspiracy theorists and hucksters, whose every purported revelation is given a predictably vast media echo.

Whole industries have grown up, driving a steady stream of book sales, TV and movie ratings, social media traffic, and speaking fees.

Tragically, of course, the endless speculation does little other than to prolong the agony of the families involved and to frustrate serious efforts to get to the truth.

This background comes to mind in light of the latest purported bombshell regarding the fate of Emanuela Orlandi, dubbed the "Vatican girl" by a popular Netflix series.

In keeping with the bizarre nature of most such plot twists, this one involves a can of green paint, a bit of graffiti in a Roman cemetery, and an exercise in speculative symbology worthy of The Da Vinci Code.

In a nutshell, here's the story. Read more

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 her, with suggestions that mobsters, the secret services, or a Vatican conspiracy were to blame — theories that sparked a hit Netflix series.

After his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican, Pope Francis said he wanted to use the anniversary "to once again express my closeness to the family, above all her mother, and assure them of my prayers."

Read More

Since her father worked in the Prefecture of the Papal Household, she and her family actually lived in Vatican City, making her one of the few minors to have the nationality of the smallest state in the world.

When Vatican Girl disappeared on June 22, 1983, following a lesson - at her music school in Rome, her family initially thought she had run away.

But then it appeared she'd been kidnapped, and a vast investigation was quickly launched. Just a few days after she went missing, John Paul II even appealed publicly for her kidnappers to release her.

Although Emanuela Orlandi was never found, her fate has been the subject of many hypotheses over the past forty years and has become one of the recurring stories in the Italian press.

According to some theories, a Rome-based crime organization called the Banda della Magliana was kidnapped as ransom to recover money it had loaned to Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, former president of the so-called Vatican bank (IOR).

The loan was apparently used to finance Poland's anti-communist trade union Solidarnosc, but it was never repaid.

Another theory alleges Orlandi was kidnapped in order to obtain the release of Mehmet Ali Agça, the Turk who tried to assassinate John Paul II in 1981.

The Grey Wolves, an ultranationalist Turkish organization, has long been accused of kidnapping the young woman without this ever being proven.

Ali Agça was released in 2010 and in an open letter published in 2019 he alleged that Emanuela Orlandi was still alive and that it was necessary to search for traces of her in the CIA archives.

What has the investigation revealed in recent years?

In recent years, her body has been sought in several places: the Teutonic Cemetery inside Vatican City, where an anonymous letter provoked exhumations in 2019; the Villa Girogina, in Rome, where bones were found in 2018; the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare near Piazza Navona where, in 2012, the police reopened the tomb of a mafia boss who was buried in the crypt where they hopes of finding the remains of the young woman.

But there was no trace of Emanuela Orlandi in any of these places.

Clues for the location of Orlandi or her mortal remains have also been sought in England, where some say that she was sent by her captors to a boarding school in the suburbs of London.

Searches have also led to Liechtenstein, France and Switzerland - but all in vain.

Why has her case resurfaced now?

To everyone's surprise, the Vatican announced this past January that its civil justice system was reopening investigations into Emanuela Orlandi's mysterious disappearance.

This took place a few weeks after Netflix aired a documentary on her case called "Vatican Girl".

Then on April 11, Orlandi's older brother Pietro, who has been fighting for years to find out the truth concerning Emanuel, met for nearly eight hours with Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican's promoter of justice (chief prosecutor).

The elder Orldandi said he provided the prosecutor with new evidence.

But Pietro Orlandi's comments in an Italian television program broadcast on the La7 television network later that evening provoked an uproar in the Vatican.

He said he had proof that John Paul II would sneak out of the Vatican at night to abuse young girls.

"I am told that Wojtyla (John Paul II's family name) used to go out at night with two Polish priests, and it was certainly not to bless houses," Orlandi said.

He produced an audio recording in which a man with close mafia ties claims to have been in charge of eliminating young girls who prelates of the Roman Curia had sexually exploited.

"Pope John Paul II used to bring these (girls) to the Vatican; it was an intolerable situation. At some point, the Secretary of State intervened to get rid of them and he turned to people in the prison system," Pietor Orlandi claimed.

The Vatican's response to insinuations against John Paul II

The remarks caused a huge shock in the Vatican. And the response from Church officials came in waves. Polish Cardinal Stanislas Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime personal secretary, issued a statement on April 13 denouncing the "virulent accusations".

He said they boiled down to "false accusations from beginning to end, unrealistic, laughable, bordering on comedy if they were not tragic, even criminal themselves".

"I can testify, without fear of denial, that from the very beginning, the Holy Father took charge of the case," the 84-year-old cardinal added.

The next day Vatican News - the main media arm of the Dicastery for Communications - denounced what it called a "media massacre" that "wounds the hearts of millions of believers and non-believers".

"No one deserves to be slandered in this way, without even an ounce of proof," wrote Andrea Tornielli, the dicastery's editorial director.

"Any proof? No proof. Any evidence? Even less," Andrea Tornielli insisted.

"Testimonies that are at least second or third-hand? No shadow of a doubt. Only anonymous slanderous accusations," the Italian journalist wrote.

Vatican prosecutors also criticized Orlandi's lawyer for not turning over the names of certain sources, objecting to his claims of attorney-client privilege.

Finally, Pope Francis spoke out this past Sunday while addressing crowds in St. Peter's Square after praying the noontime Regina Caeli.

"Certain of interpreting the feelings of the faithful throughout the world, I direct a grateful thought to the memory of Saint John Paul II, the object of offensive and unfounded inferences these past few days," Francis said.

Following the uproar over his initial remarks, Pietor Orlandi has since said that he never accused John Paul II of anything. Instead, he claims he was only conveying information that had come his way.

"It is certainly not for me to say whether this person has spoken the truth or not," he wrote on April 15.

"We have never accused Wojtyla of anything, as some would have you believe. Our only intention is to have justice for my sister Emanuela and to reach the truth, whatever it may be."

• Loup Besmond de Senneville has been a journalist with La Croix since 2011 and a permanent correspondent at the Vatican since 2020.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

Pietro Orlandi, the brother of a missing 15 girl, Emanuela Orlandi, made the allegation.

However, the Vatican's editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, blasted Pietro Orlandi's insinuation, calling it slanderous.

Tornielli said Orlandi's comments were accompanied by "no evidence, clues, testimonies or corroboration."

"Think what would have happened if someone had gone on television to state, on the basis of a 'hearsay' from an anonymous source and without the shred of a match or even third-hand testimony, that your father or grandfather left the house at night and together with some 'snack buddies' went around harassing underage girls.

"And imagine what would have happened if your now deceased relative were universally known and esteemed by all, due to some important role held.

"Wouldn't we have read comments and editorials indignant at the unspeakable way in which the good reputation of this great man, loved by so many, has been harmed?"...

"And we are not saying this because Karol Wojtyla is a saint or because he was Pope.

"Even if this media massacre saddens and dismays, wounding the hearts of millions of believers and non-believers, defamation must be denounced because it is unworthy of a civilised country to treat anyone in this way, alive or dead, whether cleric or layman, Pope, metalworker or young unemployed person."

"It is right for everyone to answer for any crimes, if they have committed any, without any impunity or privileges.

"It is sacrosanct that a 360-degree investigation be undertaken to seek the truth about Emanuela's disappearance.

"But no one deserves to be defamed in this way, without even a shred of clues, on the basis of the "rumour" of some unknown character from the criminal underworld or some sleazy anonymous comment broadcast on live TV."

Then on Sunday in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis doubled down on Tornielli's rebuke, labelling the insinuations "offensive and baseless."

Francis made the comments to tourists and pilgrims, saying he aimed to interpret the feelings of the faithful worldwide by expressing gratitude to the Polish pontiff's memory.

"Confident of interpreting the sentiment of all the faithful of the entire world, I direct a grateful thought to the memory of St John Paul II, in these days the object of offensive and baseless insinuations," Francis said, his voice turning stern and his words drawing applause.

During an interrogation with Vatican prosecutors Tuesday, Orlandi provided an audiotape containing a statement from an alleged mobster saying the late St Pope John Paul II used to go out at night with some monsignors in tow to harass and molest underage girls.

In January, the Italian Parliament reopened a parliamentary commission of inquest into her case.

At the same time, Vatican chief prosecutor Alessandro Diddi reopened the Vatican investigation when he inherited the files from his retired predecessor.

The Pope wants "the truth to emerge without any reservations" and has an "iron will" regarding the case, Diddi says.

John Paul's longtime secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, also criticised the insinuations as "unreal, false and laughable if they weren't tragic and even criminal."

He said he understands the pain of the Orlandi family and hopes for the truth to finally come out.

At the same time, he defended John Paul and denied any attempts to cover up the Orlandi case.

"We hope this can shed light on this episode ..." his lawyer says.

"The Vatican's openness and the pope's determination is absolutely positive."

After receiving harsh backlash from the Vatican for what they said were "defamatory" insinuations against the late Pope John Paul II made on national television, Pietro Orlandi, the brother of a missing Italian teen, appears to distance himself from his initial statements.

He now welcomes the probe and promises by Vatican prosecutors that they have been given carte blanche to investigate "without reservations" to find the truth.

Source

• USNews
• AP News
• Crux Now
• National Post
• Vatican News (Translation by Google)

Hundreds of partially intact bones and thousands of bone fragments were studied by a forensic anthropologist and found to date from before the end of the 19th century.

They cannot be the remains of Orlandi who went missing in the 1980s, say Vatican officials.

However, an expert representing the family of the missing girl wants more tests on some of the bones.

He says 70 bones were not examined because they were judged to be very old. They should be checked, he says.

The Vatican police have taken possession of the remains, pending a court ruling on the question.

Although 15-year old Orlandi disappeared in the 1980s, a fresh search was commissioned after a mysterious message was sent to her family via their lawyer.

The message was a picture of an angel-topped grave in the Vatican's Teutonic cemetery, with a note that read: "Look where the angel is pointing."

Although no bones were found in the place the angel was pointing, a further search found thousands of bones underneath the college.

The Vatican has said the bones were likely moved during work on the cemetery and college during the 1970s and 1980s.

Numerous theories have circulated about Orlandi's disappearance.

Some say she was snatched by mobsters to put pressure on the Vatican to recover a loan; others say she was taken to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981.

In 2017, a leaked, but apparently falsified document purportedly written by a cardinal, pointed to a Vatican cover-up.

The Holy See press office says the operations at the Teutonic College cemetery confirms their "willingness to seek the truth about the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi".

It added it "categorically denies that this attitude of full cooperation and transparency can in any way mean, as some say, an implicit admission of responsibility."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Telegraph
• Image: LettoQuotidiano.it

Further studies on the remains will be carried out starting July 27, but it was not yet possible to predict how long it would take to conduct a "detailed morphological analysis of the remains found in the ossuaries," Alessandro Gisotti, outgoing interim director of the Vatican press office, said.

Gisotti said the investigation, led by a Vatican-appointed specialist in forensic medicine, Giovanni Arcudi, was being carried out according to internationally recognized protocols. Read more

The empty tomb in the cemetery of the Pontifical Teutonic College was supposedly the last resting places of two 19th-century German princesses, Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe and Duchess Charlotte Frederica.

According to a tipoff, the tomb also supposedly housed the remains of 15 year-old Emanuela Orlandi.

Not only were the princesses' remains absent from the tomb, there was no sign of Orlandi's remains there either.

However, it is thought the bones in the stone slab probably belong to the German princesses. The slab will be formally opened this week.

The Vatican has promised to keep investigating Orlandi's disappearance.

It also noted that any bones in the tombs might have been displaced during structural work carried out on both the college building and a cemetery near St. Peter's Basilica in the 1800s and in more recent decades.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti says the area where the bones were found was immediately sealed off. It will be opened in the presence of forensic experts later this week.

Gisotti says the bones were found in two holes carved out of a large stone that was covered by an old pavement stone a few meters behind the princesses' tombs.

That area is now technically inside a building of the Teutonic College, after expansion work on the building encroached onto the cemetery field.

The last recorded structural work done on the building and the cemetery was in the 1960s and 1970s. Orlandi disappeared in 1983.

The mystery of Orlandi's disappearance has been kept alive by the Italian media and her brother Pietro Orlandi's quest to find answers.

Pietro Orlandi has long demanded the Vatican give the family full access to all information it has about his sister's disappearance.

The family's lawyer, Laura Sgro, says she had been informed of the discovery of the bones on Saturday and that the family was pleased the investigation was continuing.

Gisotti says the Holy See "has always shown attention and closeness to the suffering of the Orlandi family and in particular Emanuela's mother".

Its decision to excavate the Teutonic cemetery at the family's request was evidence of that attention, he says.

Orlandi's disappearance has been one of Italy's biggest unsolved mysteries and the subject of international intrigue, including suspicion about the Vatican's role, since it occurred.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• AP News
• Image: Reuters

Orlandi was a Vatican City resident and the daughter of a Vatican employee. She disappeared in Rome on 22 June 1983 when she was 15.

In March this year the Orlandi family's lawyer Laura Sgro said the family had been sent an anonymous letter with a photo of an angel in the Vatican's Teutonic Cemetery.

Quoting an extract from the letter, Sgro said, "Look where the angel is pointing".

At that time, Sgro also said there was evidence that at least one of the tombs below the angel statue had been opened at some point.

Furthermore, she claimed the angel statue is a different age from the marble on top of the graves and noted someone continues to leave flowers there.

As a result of the letter, she filed a formal petition with the Vatican to investigate its claims and to consider the possibility of opening the graves the angel is pointing at.

Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Vatican Press Office, says the tombs will be opened by police on 11 July.

He says the Orlandi family and family members of the people buried in the graves will be present when the graves are opened.

While they are opened, the contents in the graves will be inventoried and catalogued. Tests will also be conducted on the age of the remains and their DNA.

Gisotti says the decision to open the graves followed a court review of past investigations into Orlandi's disappearance.

Gisotti says in the current investigation, the Vatican court and police are focusing specifically on the possibility that she was buried in the Vatican.

"I'm glad, finally a decision has been made in our favour," says Pietro Orlandi, Emanuela Orlandi's brother.

"I thank the Vatican for the attention and willingness to bring clarity."

The Vatican has no jurisdiction to investigate the case of Orlandi's disappearance since it happened in Italy, not in Vatican territory.

The management and investigation of her case therefore falls under the jurisdiction of Italian authorities.

Source

• CNS
• The Tablet
• Image: Northwest Catholic

The daughter of a Vatican police officer, Orlandi was 15 when she left a music class on 22 June 1983. She has not been seen since.

"The time has finally come to reach the truth and give justice to this girl after decades of silence," the family's lawyer Laura Sgrò says.

The Vatican authorised the investigation after Sgrò received an anonymous tip-off telling her to "look where the angel is pointing" and check the inside a marble-topped grave.

This prompted her to ask for the tomb to be opened.

Orlandi's family says Pope Francis's decision to open the Vatican archives for the pontificate of Pius XII prompted them ask him to have the tomb opened.

Her brother Pietro, who has led a decades-long campaign to find out what happened to his sister, is in favour of the new investigation.

"After 35 years without cooperation, the start of an investigation is an important breakthrough," he says.

Source

• The Guardian
• Source: christophereverard.co.uk

Orlandi was 15-year-old Vatican citizen who disappeared 35 years ago.

"I do not know who connected this case with Orlandi," he added.

Parolin told journalists the facts about the find to date.

These are that two weeks ago the Vatican contacted the Italian authorities as soon as the human remains were found.

He explained this was to ensure the Vatican (which has its own police force) was seen to be transparent and to prevent any accusation that the Holy See wanted to hide something.

"Things are being done with greater openness and transparency. Human remains were found, there's the desire to get to the bottom of what was done, whose [bones] they are. And so help was asked of Italy," he told them.

In comments to a news source, the Orlandi family lawyer, Laura Sgro, said finding the skeleton does not change anything for the family.

"We don't know if Emanuela is dead and, if she is dead, we don't know when," she said.

The Italian news site ANSA says after an initial examination of the pelvis, the remains are believed to belong to a woman. However, the sex of the human remains will not be confirmed until the DNA testing is complete. This could take some seven to 10 days.

Source

• Vatican News
• Herald Malaysia
• Independent.ie
• Crux Now
• Angelus
• Image: Vatican News

The Holy See says the police are investigating the find and that forensic experts have been tasked with determining the "age, sex and date of death" of the body.

Rome's Chief Prosecutor, Giuseppe Pighatone, has tasked the Scientific Police and a mobile team of Rome's police headquarters to study the remains.

Rumours are circulating in Italian media regarding the remains' identity, with many speculating they could be those of 15 year-old Emanuela Orlandi.

Orlandi, who was the daughter of a Vatican bank functionary, disappeared in 1983 on her way to a music lesson. Her body has never been found, and the truth about what happened to her has remained a mystery for the past 35 years.

Mirella Gregori is another young Italian woman who also disappeared in 1983, just over a month before Orlandi went missing.

It is said the police are likely to make DNA comparisons to determine whether the remains belong to either of the young women.

A top Vatican exorcist, the late Rev. Gabriele Amorth, is reported to have told CNN some years ago that he suspected the girl had been abducted for sexual reasons.

"The investigation should be carried out inside the Vatican and not outside," Amorth is reported to have said.

Source

• The Tablet
• The Tablet
• CNN
• Image: Hurryet Daily News