Vatican opens investigation into disappearance of teenage girl after 40 years

“The truth about Emanuela!” is written in bold letters on the sign that a woman wears on her chest. “You won’t lie! another woman remembers on a poster she is wearing. It’s a beautiful Saturday evening in Rome, and the sky turns pale pink above the beautifully illuminated St. Peter’s Basilica, a symbol of the power of the pope, who reigns as a monarch over Vatican City. A little further, not far from the Tiber and the Castel Sant’Angelo, hundreds of curious and sympathizers gathered to show their support for Pietro Orlandi (63).

Pietro, a man with an affable but tried smile, was in his twenties when his teenage sister Emanuela Orlandi disappeared without a trace forty years ago. Her black hair has long since turned snow-white, and her children have grown up with the stories of an aunt they never knew. All the while, their father kept knocking on every door possible, demanding justice for his missing sister. Twice a year, Pietro organizes an action to draw attention to the case of the disappearance, the most famous “cold case” in Vatican City and Italy: on his birthday, like last Saturday, and the day of his disappearance.

seven popes

It was June 22, 1983, and Emanuela was fifteen. The girl grew up within the walls of Vatican City, the religious mini-state where her father was a lay worker. The Orlandi family has already served under seven popes. Emanuela, a teenage musician, sang, played piano and flute, and on that sweltering June afternoon headed off to music school in central Rome. Her family never saw her again.

For forty years now, his disappearance has fueled the most diverse hypotheses and conspiracy theories. They are covered extensively in the documentary series “Vatican Girl” on Netflix, which has revived interest in the case around the world. “I now receive declarations of support from the other side of the world”, says Pietro Orlandi with emotion in his voice. “Who knows, maybe that’s why the Vatican finally decided to officially investigate the matter. Because they know the truth will eventually surface. The family, who have yet to officially informed of the Vatican investigation, and must have been informed of it by the media, says the Vatican has so far shown a complete lack of cooperation.An Italian judicial investigation had already been definitively closed in 2016 , after yet another deadlock.

Also read: How Netflix is ​​doing the limits of the true kind of crime

The Vatican agreed in 2019 to open two graves to search for Emanuela, after an anonymous tip to the Orlandi family’s lawyer. But the graves turned out to be empty. The fact that the Vatican finally decides to investigate the case of the disappearance under strong pressure from public opinion gives hope to the brother of the disappeared. “I fervently hope this is the year we know the truth.”

But what is this truth? It has been rumored for years that the Vatican teenager was kidnapped in order to exchange her for Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk arrested after his failed 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. A former gangster friend said she cooperated with the kidnapping at the request of her boyfriend. That friend was Enrico De Pedis, the boss of the Magliana gang, a notorious gangster collective in Rome. And also the mafia was mentioned. This hypothesis, in turn, concerned the famous private banker Roberto Calvi, who was suspected of laundering the money for the crime, including through Vatican structures.

Laundered crime money

When Pope John Paul II – a staunch anti-Communist – secretly transferred money from the Vatican to the Polish trade union Solidarnosc to support the fight against communism in his native country, the laundered crime money also ended up in Poland , says the Netflix documentary. Organized crime then allegedly kidnapped Vatican teenager Emanuela Orlandi to pressure the Vatican into paying back the missing money.

Finally, in the documentary, a school friend of Emanuela also tells that shortly before her disappearance, the girl confided to her that a high-ranking cleric in the Vatican had harassed her. In short, the stories of power, corruption, the Mafia and deep secrets in the Vatican explain why American journalists in particular, almost licking their lips, compare the Orlando affair to a detective novel by Dan Brown.

Pietro Orlandi isn’t sure which theory he believes in more, but he notes that “there are elements of truth in every story, and every train of thought leads back and forth to the Vatican. They know the truth there, I’m sure.