ROME
The Irish Times
PADDY AGNEW
Conspiracy theories prevail since a teenager disappeared close to the Vatican in 1983
IN A country sadly notorious for never-ending, unsolved “mysteries”, the disappearance of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi in June 1983 often seems the most far-fetched “cold case” of them all.
The Vatican, Opus Dei, Ali Agca, the Banco Ambrosiano and organised crime all feature in a grim tale that was rekindled last Monday when investigators opened the tomb of Enrico “Renatino” De Pedis, a mobster with Roman gang La Banda Della Magliana in search of leads in this 29-year-old mystery.
The Orlandi case has generated a tsunami of conspiracy theories and the known hard facts are very few. Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a lay employee in the prefecture of the papal household, disappeared after her flute lesson close to the Vatican on Wednesday, June 22nd, 1983.
Various reports suggested she was seen getting into a large, dark-coloured BMW car after the lesson. In the days and weeks after her disappearance, the Orlandi family received a number of anonymous calls that appeared to link her kidnapping to the fate of Turkish gunman Ali Agca, the man who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981 and who was at that time in detention in Italy.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.