Pope Francis condemns ‘offensive and baseless’ insinuations about St John Paul II

Pope Francis publicly defended the late pontiff, Saint John Paul II while condemning the recent insinuations as “offensive and baseless” by the brother of a Vatican schoolgirl who went missing 40 years ago. The remarks were made on Sunday (April 16), when Francis was addressing around 20,000 tourists and pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square.

What were the ‘insinuations’?

The pope’s remarks came days after the Vatican media called an audiotape from a purported Roman mobster, “slanderous” who insinuated that John Paul would go out looking for underage girls to molest. The audio clip in question was played on an Italian TV program by Pietro Orlandi, the brother of a schoolgirl named Emanuela Orlandi, who was also the daughter of a Vatican usher.

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The alleged mobster said that more than 40 years ago, girls were brought into the Vatican to be molested and that Pope John Paul knew about it. In 1983, Emanuela, who was 15 years old, at the time, did not return home on June 22 after a music lesson in Rome. She lived with her parents in a Vatican City apartment.

After years of investigating her disappearance, it continues to remain one of Italy’s most enduring mysteries and has given rise to several theories over the years.

A recent Netflix documentary “Vatican Girl” which looked at some of the possibilities related to the case also provided new testimony. It showed a friend who said that Emanuela had told her a week before her disappearance that a high-ranking Vatican cleric had made sexual advances toward her.

Pope Francis’ remarks

In recent days, the audio clip has caused a stir in the Vatican with many condemning and criticising the insinuation about the late pontiff.

On Sunday, Francis defended John Paul whose papacy spanned from 1978 to 2005 and said, “Certain that I am interpreting the sentiments of the faithful from all over the world, I express a grateful thought to the memory of St John Paul, who in these days has been the object of offensive and unfounded insinuations.”

In a telephonic interview with Reuters, Orlandi, on Sunday also said that it was “correct that Francis defended John Paul II,” adding that during the TV appearance, he was just “repeating what others had said. I certainly did not see it myself.”

However, John Paul’s secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, throughout his leadership called Orlandi’s actions “ignoble, unrealistic, laughable if they were not tragic, even criminal”. Meanwhile, even Pietro’s lawyer, Laura Sgro, has insisted her client wasn’t accusing anyone, reported Associated Press.

(With inputs from agencies)

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