"High-Ranking Clergyman's Sexual Advances Followed by Disappearance" Vatican Girl Mystery Unraveled

Vatican Decides to Reinvestigate 'Orlandi Disappearance Case'
15-Year-Old Girl in 1983...Falsehoods and Conspiracy Theories Abound
Also Made into Netflix Documentary...Includes Testimony from Friend

Could the mystery of the Vatican girl finally be solved? The Holy See has decided to reopen the investigation into the 'Orlandi disappearance case' that occurred about 40 years ago.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 9th (local time), Matteo Bruni, the Vatican spokesperson, announced that Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican prosecutor, will re-investigate the case together with the Italian police at the request of the Orlandi family. Authorities are expected to review all files, documents, reports, information, and testimonies related to the case from scratch.

The unresolved case occurred on June 22, 1983, during the papacy of Pope John Paul II. Emanuela Orlandi, then 15 years old, who lived in the Vatican with her father, an employee of the Holy See, attended a music school in Rome. Orlandi disappeared while taking a bus home after finishing her flute lesson earlier than expected.

When their daughter did not return home, her father searched around the music school and the Vatican Hill but found no trace. Despite a large-scale police investigation and posters with Orlandi’s face plastered all over Rome, there was no breakthrough.

Poster searching for Orlandi, who went missing in 1983

Over the past decades, false leads and conspiracy theories related to the 'Orlandi disappearance case' have been rampant in the Vatican. The Orlandi parents received a phone call claiming that forces trying to secure the release of Mehmet Ali A?ca, a Turkish man imprisoned for attempting to assassinate John Paul II in 1981, had kidnapped Orlandi.

A?ca was the individual who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II by shooting him during a general audience at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Although there were 16 phone calls related to this, no clues were found, and the matter was dismissed as a serious prank.

There was also a conspiracy theory that Orlandi’s father knew about a secret deal between the Vatican and the mafia, and that the local mafia kidnapped her to silence him.

In 2005, an anonymous viewer on a TV broadcast claimed that clues to the Orlandi disappearance could be found at the tomb of mafia boss Enrico De Pedis. Three years later, Sabrina Minardi, who was romantically involved with De Pedis, asserted that "the kidnapper was De Pedis," further fueling suspicions.

Eventually, in 2012, the Holy See allowed a search of De Pedis’s tomb inside the basilica, where several unidentified bones were found, but no trace of Orlandi was discovered.

On the 20th of last month (local time), Emanuela Orlandi's younger sibling (right) and lawyer attending the press conference for the establishment of a congressional investigative committee on unsolved cases held in Rome.

In 2018, the Orlandi family received an anonymous letter suggesting that she was buried in the Teutonic Cemetery within the Vatican. In response to the family’s request the following year, the Holy See excavated two graves. Thousands of unidentified bone fragments were found, but none could be linked to Orlandi.

Last year, Netflix produced a four-part documentary titled 'Vatican Girl' about the case. The series included testimony from a friend who said that a week before her disappearance, Orlandi mentioned that a high-ranking Vatican cleric had made sexual advances toward her.

However, the Holy See has been tight-lipped about whether 'Vatican Girl' influenced the decision to reopen the investigation. According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, the background to the Holy See’s decision to reinvestigate was Pope Francis’s directive to "transparently uncover the truth of this case, no matter the cost."

Laura Sgro, the lawyer representing the Orlandi family, said about the reinvestigation, "I believe there will be a careful and thorough investigation. If the Vatican bears responsibility, it is time for it to be revealed, and the family must be told the truth."