VATICAN CITY – Rome prosecutors investigating the disappearance of an adolescent 40 years in the past are wanting afresh on the doable involvement of her uncle following data provided by the Vatican, Italian media reported Tuesday — a transfer family members rejected as a diversionary tactic.
Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican worker, was final seen leaving a music class in Rome on June 22, 1983.
Decades of hypothesis adopted over what occurred to her, with solutions that mobsters, the key providers or a Vatican conspiracy have been in charge, theories which sparked a success Netflix collection.
The Vatican has been accused of obstructing investigation efforts over the a long time, however finally launched an inquiry into its most well-known chilly case in January. Rome prosecutors in May then opened their very own recent probe — the third thus far.
The Vatican lately handed its case information to Rome, saying they included “some lines of inquiry worthy of further investigation”.
Those embody a letter by which a priest advised the Vatican’s then secretary of state that Orlandi’s older sister Natalina had revealed throughout confession that her uncle, Mario Meneguzzi, had sexually abused her, Italian tv channel La 7 stated Monday.
Orlandi’s brother Pietro, who has for years campaigned for the reality and believes the Vatican is aware of what occurred to Emanuela, reacted angrily to the La 7 report.
“They cannot put it all on the family. I am furious,” he advised the news company AdnKronos, saying the Vatican had “crossed the line” by implicating his uncle.
Natalina advised a press convention on Tuesday that whereas her uncle had “made advances” in direction of her, he stopped after being rejected. “There was no rape,” she stated.
Orlandi stated his uncle’s alibi — that he was on vacation removed from Rome on the time — had been established and verified.
“The Vatican is seeking to deny any form of responsibility,” he stated, renewing his name for a parliamentary fee to be arrange.
Identikit
Rome prosecutors are actually reportedly wanting once more at Meneguzzi, who was solely superficially investigated through the authentic probe.
Meneguzzi, who died a number of years in the past, appeared remarkably just like an identikit drawing of a person noticed speaking to Emanuela on the street after her music lesson, La 7 stated.
He additionally performed a key function within the months following her disappearance, answering the calls of the purported kidnappers, the report stated.
Meneguzzi had ties to the key service, and managed to get it to pay for a household lawyer, La 7 added.
During the primary, temporary investigation into him, he was additionally warned by the service that he was being tailed by police, it stated.
Meneguzzi advised investigators on the time that he was out of Rome on the day {the teenager} disappeared, within the village of Torano east of the capital, together with a number of family members together with Emanuela’s father Ercole, in response to the Open on-line newspaper.
But Ercole Orlandi advised investigators on a number of events that he was not in Torano that day, however in Fiumicino, west of Rome, Open stated.
The Corriere della Sera’s investigative reporter Fabrizio Peronaci stated Tuesday he had additionally uncovered data that the abductors had insisted from the beginning that Meneguzzi be their level particular person for the ransom negotiations.
The twists and turns of the case have been documented in a 2022 TV collection by Netflix, “Vatican Girl”, although it didn’t take a look at Meneguzzi.
In the documentary, a pal claimed the teenager confided the week earlier than she disappeared to having been harassed within the Vatican gardens by a determine near then pope John Paul II.
Another declare usually repeated in Italian media was that she was taken to pressure the discharge from jail of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
