SEARCH FOR MISSING VATICAN TEENAGER UNCOVERS CHAMBERS ‘FULL OF BONES’
▶ The remains of dozens of people have been exhumed as experts hunt for the body of Emanuela Orlandi
One of Italy’s most enduring mysteries has taken a twist after underground chambers containing thousands of bones were discovered in the Vatican during the search for the body of a teenager who went missing 36 years ago.
The two chambers were uncovered last week underneath a trapdoor in a college next to a tiny cemetery that has been the most recent focus in the hunt for the body of Emanuela Orlandi.
Orlandi was 15 when she went missing in 1983 while returning to her family’s apartment within the walls of the Vatican City after attending a music lesson in Rome.
Her family received an anonymous tip suggesting they search for her body near the 19th century tombs of two German princesses at the Vatican’s Teutonic cemetery, where for centuries church figures of German or Austrian origin were buried.
The family received a picture of an angel-topped grave in the cemetery, with a message that simply read: “Look where the angel is pointing”.
The tombs were opened this month but there was no sign of the remains of the teenager, or the princesses.
The search moved to the underground chambers that contained the remains of dozens of adults and children, a genetics expert employed by the Orlandi family said.
Giorgio Portera said he had not expected to see such a large amount of bones and other remains that had been “thrown into a cavity”.
“Thousands of bones have been found so we imagine they correspond to dozens of people,” he said.
Several theories have been offered over the years to explain Orlandi’s disappearance, from a kidnapping linked to
Thousands of bones have been found so we imagine they correspond to dozens of people GIORGIO PORTERA Genetics expert
organised crime to a cover-up involving the Roman Catholic Church.
One theory suggested she was kidnapped in an unsuccessful plan to trade her freedom for that of the Turkish gunman who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981.
Other theories discussed in Italian media included a kidnapping by the Italian mafia meant to put pressure on the Vatican over an unpaid loan.
The girl’s father worked as a clerk at the Vatican.
In 2012, experts found 400 boxes of bones after exhuming the tomb of a crime boss suspected of involvement in her kidnapping.
DNA testing was carried out on the remains but there was no match with Orlandi.
Last year, bones found during ground work at the Vatican embassy in Rome led Italian media to speculate the remains could belong to either Orlandi or to Mirella Gregori, another teenager who disappeared in Rome in 1983. DNA tests dismissed those claims.
The Vatican said the princesses’ bones may have been moved when the college was built during the 1960s and 1970s.
Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the remains found in the underground chambers were removed and further studies would take place on Saturday.
The Vatican said it was “not possible, for the moment, to predict how long it would take” to identify the remains.
Orlandi’s sister, Federica, said the discovery of the chamber was “an emotional experience because I think my sister’s bones could be there, but I won’t think about it until we have the result”.