The brother of Emanuela Orlandi, a Vatican schoolgirl who went missing 40 years ago, released an audio recording alleging Vatican involvement in her disappearance. Pope Francis rejected the insinuations made by Pietro Orlandi about his predecessor, Saint John Paul II. Emanuela Orlandi was 15 years old when she failed to return home on June 22, 1983, after a music lesson in Rome. Her disappearance is one of Italy’s most enduring mysteries.
Pietro Orlandi met with Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican chief prosecutor, for more than eight hours on Tuesday. He then appeared on a television program where he played an audio recording with the voice of a man he claimed was part of an organized crime group that some Italian media have speculated may have been involved in his sister’s disappearance. The voice of the alleged gangster says that more than 40 years ago, girls were brought into the Vatican to be molested and that Pope John Paul knew about it. Orlandi then said in his own words on the show that John Paul used to go out in the evenings with two Polish monsignors and it certainly was not to bless houses.
The comments were condemned by Vatican officials in the past few days before the pope himself addressed the issue at his noon address to about 20,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, calling them offensive and unfounded. Diddi summoned Pietro Orlandi’s lawyer on Saturday, who invoked attorney-client privileges. Orlandi told Reuters on Sunday that it was “correct that Francis defended John Paul II.” Over the past four decades, conspiracy theories have abounded in attempts to determine just what became of Emanuela Orlandi.
