Orlandi was the daughter of a Vatican employee. She was 15 when she vanished from the street in 1983. Her fate has been the subject of much speculation.

In the latest round of speculation a document, said to have been written by a cardinal and stolen from an armoured cabinet inside the Vatican, suggests that the Vatican may have been directly involved in Orlandi's disappearance.

The document, published in Italy on Sunday, alleges the "Holy See would attest to the past payment of considerable sums on the part of the Vatican to cover Emmanuela Orlandi's stay outside Italy,".

The Secretariat of State issued a press release at the end of the day denying the document's authenticity, saying the information is "totally false and without foundation."

Even Emiliano Fittipaldi, the investigative journalist who published the document, said it could be a fake. He also noted it was unclear who wrote the document, when or why.

Despite his reservations, he included the document in a book to be published this week.

He says "that it had been found in a Vatican office raised very unsettling questions".

The Italian press has reported widely on the case.

Source

• Zenit
• New York Times
• Catholic Culture
• Image: CasertaWeb