VATICAN CITY: The Vatican confirmed on Tuesday it had opened an inquiry into its most famous cold case, the disappearance of a teenager 40 years ago which sparked countless theories and a hit Netflix series.
Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee, was last seen leaving a music class in Rome on June 22, 1983.
Decades of speculation followed over what happened to her, with theories blaming everyone from mobsters, the secret services to the Freemasons and a Vatican conspiracy -- none ever proven.
The Orlandi family has campaigned tirelessly for the truth, and it was their demands which in part led to the new inquiry.
The Vatican’s chief prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, “has opened a file, based in part on the basis of requests made by the family”, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
However, the family said they are still waiting for details on what will be the focus of the new probe.
“We don’t know what the Vatican will do... which papers they want to review, the papers of the investigation by the Rome prosecutors or if they have a file to share,” family lawyer Laura Sgro told reporters.
“The Vatican has never done anything up until now,” she said, adding: “I have been asking to be heard by top figures in the Vatican for years... but unfortunately some people are already dead.”
One of the most widely circulated theories claimed Orlandi was snatched by mobsters to put pressure on the Vatican to recover a loan.
— AFP
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