Emanuela Orlandi disappeared on June 22, 1983, after a semester at the music school adjacent to the Catholic Church of Sant’Apollinari Opus Dei, near Piazza Navona, in Rome. I was 15 years old
The Vatican will hand over evidence of the disappearance, 40 years ago, of the 15-year-old daughter of one of its employees to the City Prosecutor of Rome.
Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of an important Vatican official who lived within the walls of the Holy City, disappeared in the summer of 1983 on her way home from a music lesson in central Rome.
The Vatican – which has come under scrutiny over the years for its handling of the case – announced in January that it had opened a new investigation.
The Vatican said in a statement Thursday that the office of Vatican Prosecutor Alessandro Dedi “collected all available evidence from the various institutions of the Vatican and the Holy See, while also seeking to obtain evidence through conversations with those responsible for certain offices at the time of the events.”
Pietro Orlandi, Emanuela’s brother, during a demonstration to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his sister’s disappearance, next to St. Peter’s Square, on January 14. Antonio Masiello / Getty Images
Dede said, through the Vatican press office, that he had found “some investigative leads that deserve further analysis.” His office will therefore send “all relevant documents from recent weeks to the public prosecutor in Rome, so that he can analyze them and proceed in the direction he deems most appropriate.”
It was not clear what the documents refer to, whether they are new or archival.
This is the first time that the Vatican has announced that documents have been handed over to the Italian authorities.
The statement notes that the Vatican investigation has now concluded, but Didi has vowed to “continue his activities in this regard in the coming months,” and “aware of the anguish felt by the disappearance of a loved one.”
Emanuela Orlandi. Courtesy of Pietro Orlandi
Emanuela Orlandi disappeared on June 22, 1983, after a semester at the music school adjacent to the Catholic Church of Sant’Apollinare Opus Dei, near Piazza Navona, in Rome.
His father, Ercole Orlandi, who died in 2004, worked at the Institute for Religious Works of the Holy See. His mother, Maria Orlandi, still lives in the family’s apartment in Vatican City. Her brother, Pietro Orlandi, has spent his life trying to find out what happened to his sister and has often accused the Vatican of withholding information.
He called a demonstration on Sunday in Rome, in front of Castel Sant’Angelo, the last place it was believed the young woman’s body could be buried, and then he would go to St. Peter’s Square to be present when the Pope gave his Angelic Sunday. Every year, Orlandi holds demonstrations around the anniversary of the disappearance.
Last year, a four-episode series on Netflix from director Mark Lewis sparked renewed interest in this high-profile case and shed light on several of the most prominent conspiracy theories, including that her abduction was linked to Muhammad Ali Agca, who was in prison around the time of the attempt on John Paul’s life. The second in Saint Peter’s Square in 1981.
Searches for Orlandi’s remains have been conducted several times over the past four decades. In 2018, remains were found in the Embassy of the Holy See in Italy, in central Rome, but DNA tests did not allow a match.
A year later, the Vatican approved the exhumation of two princesses believed to be buried in the cemetery of the Pontifical Teutonic College, within Vatican City. The princesses’ remains were not found in the tomb, nor were those of Orlandi, but two ossuaries were found under a secret door in the tomb.
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