Pope Francis offers prayers for 'Vatican girl' who went missing 40 years ago, 'breaks taboo'

Pope Francis, on Sunday (June 25), offered a prayer and solidarity for the family of a teenager who went missing 40 years ago this week, in one of Italy’s most mysterious cases. The brother of the missing teen hailed the move and said it was a sign that the Vatican is finally engaging seriously with the cold case.

What did the Pope say?

During his weekly prayer, while delivering the Angelus message, on Sunday, at the Vatican, Pope Francis said he wanted to use the 40th anniversary of the disappearance “to once again express my closeness to the family, above all her mother, and assure them of my prayers”.

Furthermore, also he addressed, the missing 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican usher, Emanuela Orlandi’s brother Pietro, and the crowd in St Peter’s Square and said, “I extend my remembrance to all the families who bear the pain of a loved one who has disappeared.”

What do we know about the four-decade-old case?

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. Late last year, Netflix released a series called “Vatican Girl” which renewed worldwide attention on the cold case.

The series 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. Additionally, earlier this year, a purported Roman mobster in an audiotape 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 where 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. This prompted Pope Francis to publicly defend the late pontiff and called the insinuations “offensive and baseless”.

Pietro Orlandi about Pope’s prayer

Notably, Pietro was present with a group of supporters holding up signs and banners calling for “justice” and “truth,” as per Reuters. Speaking to the Italian news agency ANSA, Peitro welcomed the Pope’s remarks and called them “a positive signal” and “a good step forward”.

Pietro and his family have long called on the Vatican to shed light on the mystery and have been campaigning for the truth for decades now. “The Emanuela Orlandi taboo has finally been broken,” said Pietro while leading the sit-in near the Vatican. He added, “The fact of praying is a sign of hope of reaching the truth.” Notably, the Vatican has been previously accused of obstructing investigation efforts.

The ongoing investigation

In January the Vatican’s chief prosecutor opened a file into the case. Additionally, on Thursday (the actual anniversary of Emanuela’s disappearance) the Vatican said that the findings had been forwarded to the Rome prosecutor’s office which is conducting its own probe for the case.

The Vatican, last week also released a statement which said “some lines of inquiry worthy of further investigation,” without any other details.

Pietro Orlandi told AFP “these words are already a big step that we had been asking for for years and years and it had never happened,” speaking about the pope’s prayers. He added, “We expect acts after these words.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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