The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. Ali Agca: she’s alive. Brother: The Vatican knows the truth, it only needs to reveal it

January 9 The Vatican has announced that the justice system of the Holy See is initiating proceedings in the case of Emanuela Orlandi. Her brother, Pietro Orlandi, has been fighting for the truth about her sister’s fate for almost 40 years and has been repeating for years with conviction: the highest-ranking clergy, including the pope, know perfectly well what happened to her.

“The investigation into Emanuela’s kidnapping, launched now, after 40 years, can be very short, provided that it is accompanied by sincerity and a desire to do justice to Emanuela. Long interrogations in the Vatican will not be needed, because they know the truth, they just need to reveal it. If not, I hope to be summoned to testify as soon as possible,” Orlandi wrote on social media. “I cannot but be satisfied with the current situation. As always, I prefer to think positively and see the glass as half full,” he added.

Speaking to Sky TG24, Pietro Orlandi noted that what was new was that the Vatican would conduct its own investigation. “This is not a reopening of the investigation, but it’s the first time Vatican State investigators have officially investigated a kidnapping case, so yes, of course, I’m happy to hear that,” he said.

Prosecutors from Rome twice tried to solve the mystery of the girl’s disappearance and failed twice. Both proceedings were discontinued due to lack of evidence, the first in 1997, the next in 2015.

According to the family’s representative, the moment of the announcement by the Vatican of the current, groundbreaking decision is not accidental. – We wonder why they decided to launch an investigation just now, a few days after the funeral of the Holy Father Benedict XVI. And does it have to do with the book launch of his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, which will take place in three days? [w czwartek, książka ma tytuł “Cała prawda”- red.]. Case? – Laura Sgrò ironized in an interview with a journalist of the fanpage.it portal.

Pietro Orlandi claims that both Archbishop Gänswein and Benedict XVI knew about Emanuela’s fate, but preferred to remain silent. “Joseph Ratzinger has not mentioned her publicly once,” Orlandi told today.it in October. “And I know that on Gänswein’s desk was a transparent folder with the inscription ‘Report: Emanuela Orlandi’,” he claimed, citing his sources.

Italian media recall other events in recent months that may have contributed to the fact that last Monday the Vatican announced that promoter of justice Alessandro Diddi will investigate the matter.

The documentary about the disappearance of Emanuela, which was broadcast by the streaming platform in October, echoed loudly. The series in several episodes tells the story of the girl, puts in order the most important events and plot twists in the case, gives the floor to many witnesses. The key seems to be an anonymous woman, Orlandi’s old friend, who tells about Emanuela’s embarrassing confession. She was to hear from her that during one of the walks in the Vatican, a person from the close circle of friends of the then pope John Paul II she tried to “get close” to her – she meant crossing the boundaries of intimacy.

The woman had never talked about this conversation from years ago before. “I convinced her to do it publicly because it seemed important to me,” Pietro Orlandi told today.it. – When the series was being made, I received a call from someone inside the Vatican. This person asked me if I knew anything about the ongoing production, if I would speak there … When I asked why he was inquiring, he admitted that the Vatican “is restless, that they are afraid that something will come out”, Pietro reported.

Shortly after the issue of the document, on December 20, Pietro Orlandi and lawyer Laura Sgrò went to the seat of the Italian Parliament, where together with deputies they asked for a commission to be set up to investigate three unresolved cases involving young Italian women: Emanuela Orlandi, Mirelli Gregori (also missing without a trace in 1983) and Simonetta Cesaroni (someone murdered her in 1990). The commission has not yet been established, but the name “Orlandi” was repeated again by all the national media. “The Vatican knows a lot more about this case than it says. It’s high time he took part in the discussion – said Carlo Calenda, leader of the liberal Azione party in December.

In recent years, Orlandi and Sgrò have been trying to make contact with Pope Francisasking him for a meeting. – In November 2021, we wrote him a letter in which we communicated that we had new evidence that we would like to present to him. After two months, he wrote back asking us to inform the promoter of justice about this fact, redirecting the case to him. (…) We did so, but since then we have not received any response – Brother Emanuela reported on Monday in an interview with the portal ilfattoquotidiano.it.

He decided to share some of this new evidence with the media. – It’s about a WhatsApp conversation that we reached. It is an exchange of views between two people from a very close circle of the Pope. The news comes from 2013 and 2014 – explains Pietro Orlandi, and presents excerpts from them.

“Remember, we need to photocopy these Emanuela documents. (…) Who is going to pay these cemetery robbers now, when we have to pay them secretly? Pope Francis says we keep doing what we’re doing, but we’re doing the things, so what now? (…)”

“We must tell Giani, the head of the gendarmerie (…)”.

“No, don’t do it. Orlandi is a serious matter, the Pope is on our side and he’s telling us to keep doing what we’re doing (…)”

According to Orlandi, the conversation may be about a grave in the Campo Santo Teutonico cemetery where the family was looking for Emanuela’s bones after an anonymous letter from a mysterious informant.

Ali Agca, who in 1981 carried out an attempt on the life of John Paul II, added his “five cents”.

Agca was one of the key people in the first investigation into Orlandi, conducted in the 1990s by the Roman prosecutor’s office. Why? According to one version (for which no evidence was finally found), Emanuela was to be the victim of an international terrorist plot. A month after the girl’s disappearance in 1983, the alleged kidnappers began calling the Vatican. They were to claim that they were holding Orlandi and would release her if Pope John Paul II interceded for Mehmet Ali Agca and he was released. It didn’t. It is not even known whether the interlocutors were telling the truth and actually imprisoned Emanuela.

Now Ali Agca claims that “no terrorists kidnapped her”. – She became the victim of a hitherto unknown conspiracy. She has never experienced any violence and has always been treated humanely. La magliana [nazwa klanu mafijnego – red.] neither the pedophile thread matters here … Emanuela was part of the intrigue that aimed at my release in 1983 – Ali Agca maintains in an interview with the daily “Corriere della Sera”.

“I would like to say loudly to the Vatican’s face: release her from the closed convent where she lives and devotes herself to prayer,” he continues.

Lawyer Laura Sgrò and members of the Orlandi family on Wednesday in the Vatican filed an application in which they officially request a meeting with the promoter of justice Alessandro Diddi. On January 2, Pietro Orlandi, via social media, invited everyone to a “sitting” public meeting to be held on Saturday, January 14 – Emanuela’s 55th birthday. The man still believes his sister is alive.

“We will see each other on Saturday at 4:30 pm at Largo Giovanni XXIII to remember Emanuela and remind each other that on the way to knowing the truth we will never take a step back,” he wrote.