Was missing 'Vatican Girl' a victim of her UNCLE?

Was missing ‘Vatican Girl’ a victim of her UNCLE? Mystery of 15-year-old’s 1983 disappearance deepens as Rome investigates late relative who ‘made advances’ towards her sister

• Emanuela Orlandi, 15, went missing after a music class in Rome, Italy, in 1983
• But authorities are now investigating involvement of her uncle Mario Meneguzzi

Italian authorities are investigating the possible involvement of an uncle over the disappearance of a schoolgirl who ‘vanished’ 40 years ago.

Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee, was last seen leaving a music class in Rome on June 22, 1983.

Her disappearance was linked to everything from a mafia kidnapping to an attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II, and a financial scandal involving the Vatican bank.

But Rome prosecutors are now investigating the potential involvement of her uncle Mario Meneguzzi who allegedly sexually abused her older sister following a tip off by the Vatican, according to Italian media.

It comes after the city-state passed its case files to Rome in June, saying they included ‘some lines of inquiry worthy of further investigation’.

Emanuela Orlandi (pictured), the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee, was last seen leaving a music class in Rome on June 22, 1983

But Rome prosecutors are now investigating the potential involvement of her uncle Mario Meneguzzi (pictured) who allegedly sexually abused her older sister

The files include a letter in which a priest told the Vatican’s secretary of state that Orlandi’s older sister Natalina had revealed during confession that her uncle, Mario Meneguzzi, had sexually abused her, according Italian television channel La 7.

But Orlandi’s brother Pietro, who has for years campaigned for the truth and believes the Vatican knows what happened to Emanuela, reacted angrily to the La 7 report.

He told news agnecy AdnKronos: ‘They cannot put it all on the family. I am furious’ and claimed authorities had ‘crossed the line’ by blaming his uncle.

Meanwhile, Natalina told a press conference on Tuesday that while her uncle had ‘made advances’ towards her, he stopped after being rejected. ‘There was no rape,’ she said.

Orlandi said his uncle’s alibi – that he was on holiday far from Rome at the time – had been established and verified.

‘The Vatican is seeking to deny any form of responsibility,’ he said, renewing his call for a parliamentary commission to be set up.

Her disappearance was linked to everything from a mafia kidnapping to an attempt on the life of Pope John II, and a financial scandal involving the Vatican bank

But Orlandi’s brother Pietro (pictured), who has for years campaigned for the truth and believes the Vatican knows what happened to Emanuela, reacted angrily to the La 7 report.

READ MORE: Did the Vatican cover up the kidnap and torture of this girl by the Mafia because she’d been sexually abused by a friend of the Pope? How new Netflix documentary spurred the Church in Rome to re-examine a haunting case

Meneguzzi, who died several years ago, looked remarkably similar to a drawing of a man spotted talking to Emanuela in the street after her music lesson, La 7 said.

He also played a key role in the months following her disappearance, answering the calls of the purported kidnappers, the report said.

Meneguzzi had ties to the secret service, and managed to get it to pay for a family lawyer, La 7 added.

During the first, brief investigation into him, he was also warned by the service that he was being tailed by police, it said.

Meneguzzi told investigators at the time that he was out of Rome on the day the teenager disappeared, in the village of Torano east of the capital, along with several relatives including Emanuela’s father Ercole, according to the Open online newspaper.

But Ercole Orlandi told investigators on several occasions that he was not in Torano that day, but in Fiumicino, west of Rome, Open said.

The Corriere della Sera’s investigative reporter Fabrizio Peronaci said Tuesday he had also uncovered information that the kidnappers had insisted from the start that Meneguzzi be their point person for the ransom negotiations.

A poster announcing the vanishing of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee

The Vatican has been accused of obstructing investigation efforts over the decades, but eventually launched an inquiry into its most famous cold case in January. Rome prosecutors in May then opened their own fresh probe – the third so far.

In July 2019 the tombs of two princesses in the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery, opened in a search for Orlandi’s body, were found empty. 

In late November 2018 Rome prosecutors said bones found in an annexe to the Vatican’s nunciature to Italy do not belong to Orlandi or the other girl, Mirella Gregori who disappeared a month before Orlandi vanished.

The twists and turns of the case were documented in a 2022 TV series by Netflix, ‘Vatican Girl’, though it did not look at Meneguzzi.

In the documentary, a friend claimed the teen confided the week before she disappeared to having been harassed in the Vatican gardens by a figure close to Pope John Paul II.

Another claim often repeated in Italian media was that she was taken to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981.

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