35 years after her disappearance…Vatican opens probe into Emanuela Orlandi’s case
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The Vatican has decided to Vatican open an internal probe into the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican citizen who disappeared in the summer of 1983.
Orlandi’s family lawyer Laura Sgrò announced Wednesday that the Secretariat of State had “authorized the opening of an investigation” into a grave in the Teutonic Cemetery inside the Vatican that some think may be hiding Orlandi’s remains.
The Vatican said on March 27 it was handling a request from Orlandi’s family to see if the tomb was that of Orlandi.
For more than 35 years, Italians have been obsessed with the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. Over the years many rumours have swirled about what happened to her, including conspiracies tied to the Mafia and the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II.
Orlandi’s brother Pietro said in the last few months he had met Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, sometimes with Sgrò, on the issue.
Pietro Orlandi, brother of missing Emanuela Orlandi, attends Raiuno (RAI 1)’s Italian television show ‘Porta a Porta’.
Now Pietro Orlandi said that after 35 years of a lack of cooperation from the Vatican, the start of an investigation is an important breakthrough.
On March 4 Orlandi’s family asked the Vatican to reopen what it calls a ‘suspect’ tomb in the Teutonic Cemetery in the Vatican.
Last summer the Orlandi family lawyer received an anonymous note saying “seek where the angel indicates”.
Investigations then led the family to think her remains might be in the tomb, which is pointed to by an angel on the cemetery wall holding a sheet saying RIP.
Emanuela Orlandi was a citizen of Vatican City who mysteriously disappeared on 22 June 1983.Her father was an employee of the Vatican Bank. He and his family lived inside Vatican City. Sightings of Emanuela in various places have been reported over the years, even inside Vatican City, but all have been unreliable.
