The girl Emanuela Orlandi has been missing since June 1983. Now the Italian judiciary is reopening the missing persons case – there are documents from the Vatican.
ROME – Almost 40 years ago, the then fifteen-year-old did not return home after a music lesson in the old town of Rome – it was June 22, 1983. Despite extensive investigations, there is no trace of the daughter of a high-ranking Vatican employee. Now the public prosecutor’s office in Rome is investigating the case – for the third time.
Emanuela Orlandi case: documents from the Vatican – investigations are being reopened
It’s a twist in one of the greatest mysteries in Italian criminal history. This time, the Italian judiciary wants to work with prosecutors in the Vatican. The new investigations into the Emanuela Orlandi case were entrusted to public prosecutor Stefano Luciani, Italian media reports unanimously.
Documents, files and reports from the last few decades and also the protocols of witness statements, which had been kept in the past few weeks by the Justice Commissioner in the Vatican, including clergy, are to be re-examined. Is there a hot lead this time? The Italian judiciary last closed the case in 2015.
- June 22, 1983: Immediately after Emanuela’s disappearance in 1983, the first investigations were launched by the Italian judiciary and closed in 1997.
- 2008: Italy reopened the second investigation into the Emanuela Orlandi case. According to Sabrina Minardi, a lover of the chief of the Roman Magliana clan, the case came back into the limelight. Enrico De Pedis should therefore be involved in the case. The investigation was dropped in 2015 with no results.
- 2023: The public prosecutor’s office in Rome is investigating again in the missing person case Orlandi – in cooperation with the Vatican.
…to find out the truth about Emanuela
“We hope for loyal cooperation between the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Vatican in the search for the truth,” said Laura Sgró, a lawyer for the Orlandi family, as reported by the Italian news agency Ansa. “The reopening of the investigation is good news that we have been waiting for years to learn the truth about Emanuela,” Sgrò said.
Is the Vatican involved in the Emanuela Orlandi case?
Emanuel’s brother Pietro Orlandi is concerned about his sister’s uncertain fate. For decades he has been committed to finding the truth. Most recently, Orlandi caused controversy with an appearance on a TV show. The brother of the missing person made serious allegations against the late Pope John Paul II. Orlandi had apparently hit a hornet’s nest, the Italian press said. Pope Francis was snubbed by this suspicion.
In January 2023, the Vatican responded to public pressure and reopened the case. Since then, the public prosecutor’s office of the Papal States has been investigating again and is thus following the family’s wishes. The release of the Netflix series Vatican Girl added pressure. The pontiff himself also campaigned for investigations “without consideration”, such as Merkur.de reported.
The new investigations are based on the Corriere della Sera mainly on information from the former public prosecutor Giancarlo Capaldo, according to which two Vatican representatives had promised him to reveal the whereabouts of Orlandi’s body. In 2019, the Vatican opened two leg cellars in search of the remains of the missing. According to the investigators, only old bones were found in it. (ml with material from afp)
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