The brother of Emanuela Orlandi, a
15-year-old Vatican City resident who disappeared in 1983, aimed
"offensive and unfounded innuendo" at the much loved and
venerated Saint John Paul II in an interview on La7 television
this week in which he talked of the late Polish pope going out
at night with senior clergymen looking for girls, Pope Francis
said Sunday.
"Certain of interpreting the sentiments of the faithful
throughout the world, I address a grateful thought to the memory
of St John Paul II, in these days the object of offensive and
unfounded insinuations", said Francis at the Regina Coeli
blessing, applauded by the faithful gathered in St Peter's
Square for the message that at this time of the Church year
replaces the usual Sunday angelus blessing.
Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano on Friday blasted the
allegations by Pietro Orlandi against the late pope who died in
2005 and became a saint in 2014.
Pietro met Vatican prosecutor Alessandro Diddi to talk about his
sister's case on Tuesday.
"Evidence? None. Clues? Even less. Third- or second-hand
testimony? Not even a shadow. Just anonymous, shameful
accusations," read the editorial on the "supposed revelations
about Pope Wojtyla and the Orlandi case".
"It's madness. And we don't say so because Karol Wojtyła is a
saint or because he was pope.
"Although this media massacre causes sadness and shock, injuring
the hearts of millions of believers and non-believers,
defamation must be denounced because it is unworthy of a
civilized country for anyone to be treated in this way, dead or
alive, whether they be a cleric or a layperson, a pope, a metal
worker or a young unemployed person".
The editorial said it was right to investigate Emanuela
Orlandi's disappearance but this did not justify slander.
Earlier on Friday Pietro Orlandi's lawyer Laura Sgro' said her
client had not intended to "formulate accusations against
anyone.
"He reiterated that to the prosecutor, and he wrote it in the
deposition he presented during his testimony," said Sgro' , who
on Saturday refused to name names in a meeting with Diddi, the
Vatican prosecutor.
"He only asked that the quest for the truth should not be
conditioned in any way. "He is sorry that some people have
misinterpreted his statements by manipulating some things
extrapolated from them".
Emanuela Orlandi disappeared while returning home from a flute
lesson in Rome on 22 June 1983.
The girl's disappearance sparked an intense media frenzy in
Italy that has resulted in the case being called "Italy's most
famous unsolved mystery".
Emanuela was the fourth of five children of Ercole and Maria
Orlandi.
Her father was a Vatican employee and the family lived inside
Vatican City.
Her story inspired a hit four-part 2022 Netflix series called
Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi.
Speculation on Orlandi's disappearance, and that of another
15-year-old girl in the same summer of 1983, has been rife over
the years.
In late November 2018 Rome prosecutors said bones found in an
annex to the Vatican's nunciature to Italy did not belong to
Emanuela Orlandi or the other girl, Mirella Gregori.
The Orlandi case has spawned several theories over the
years, including that she was murdered to gain traction to have
pope John Paul II's Turkish shooter Mehmet Ali Agca freed, or
that organised crime was involved.
Ali Agca was questioned in the case.
In 2016 investigations into the case were shelved.
Six people including a priest were implicated in the
investigations on suspicion of complicity in abduction and
murder.
All but one had links with the Banda della Magliana, a
now-defunct crime gang based in Rome.
In September 2018 the Vatican described as "false and
ridiculous" reports that the Vatican had spent large amounts of
money on the case.
photo: 18th anniversary of JP II's death marked in Krakow on
April 2
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