Parliamentary inquest into ‘Vatican Girl’ thriller strikes ahead as pope acknowledges household’s ache

ROME — Italy’s Parliament is poised to open a bicameral fee of inquiry into the disappearance of the teenage daughter of a Vatican worker, the third new investigation launched within the 4 a long time since Emanuela Orlandi vanished on the streets of Rome.

The Senate’s Constitutional Affairs Committee on Tuesday unanimously permitted establishing the inquest, and full Senate approval is now anticipated. The Chamber of Deputies, the Italian Parliament’s decrease home, gave its go-ahead earlier.

Separately, Vatican and Rome prosecutors each just lately reopened their investigations within the case.

Orlandi vanished 40 years in the past final week, on June 22, 1983, after leaving her household’s Vatican City residence to go to a music lesson in Rome. Her father was a lay worker of the Holy See. Theories through the years have linked her disappearance at age 15 to all the things from the plot to kill St. John Paul II, a monetary scandal involving the Vatican financial institution and Rome’s felony underworld

The household and their supporters marked the anniversary with a protest and a march to St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, calling for the reality about what occurred to Orlandi to lastly emerge. Pope Francis noticed the passage of time throughout his Sunday midday blessing., issuing a uncommon papal acknowledgment of the household’s enduring ache.

“These days mark the 40th anniversary of the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi,” Francis stated from his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square to Orlandi’s supporters under. “I wish on this occasion to express once again my closeness to the family, especially to the mother, and to assure them of my prayers”.

The lawyer for the Orlandi household, Laura Sgro, applauded Tuesday’s Senate committee motion as an excellent signal and known as for fast approval by the total Senate.

“The search for truth and justice belongs to all people of goodwill, and today the Senate showed it wants clarity and transparency on the Emanuela case,” she stated.

Sgro earlier praised Francis’ determination to talk publicly concerning the case and to precise his solidarity with the household.

“A taboo has fallen,” she stated. “It wasn’t a given, and we are grateful to Pope Francis for this gesture.”

Popular curiosity within the case was renewed final yr with the four-part Netflix documentary “Vatican Girl,” which explored the varied situations suspected in Orlandi’s disappearance. The documentary included new testimony from a good friend who stated Orlandi advised her per week earlier than she vanished {that a} high-ranking Vatican cleric had made sexual advances towards her.

After the documentary aired and with the fortieth anniversary of her disappearance nearing, Orlandi’s household, with backing from some Italian lawmakers, pressed for a parliamentary fee of inquiry.

The Vatican prosecutor just lately revealed that he had uncovered whereas delving into the chilly case information new leads “worthy of further investigation.” The prosecutor urged the lawmakers to butt out and let legislation enforcement do its work, however each homes of Parliament nonetheless pressed forward with their very own inquest.

The parliamentary inquiry will look into the disappearances of different younger girls across the identical time as Orlandi went lacking. The Italian Constitution permits lawmakers and senators to conduct investigations “on matters of public interest.”