Emanuela Orlandi: the brother of the missing girl accuses John Paul II of pedophilia and unleashes a storm in the Vatican

The unresolved “Orlandi case” – the disappearance of the Vatican citizen Emanuela Orlandiat the age of 15, forty years ago, when he never returned from a music class he used to go to, near Piazza Navona-, these days he returned to create anxiety in the sacred palaces.

Just at a time when the Vatican, in a historical twist, decided to open an investigation to somehow clarify what happened after decades of comings and goings, false leads and so on, Pietro Orlandi, the girl’s brother, who has been demanding justice for years and is the protagonist of “Vatican girl”, the successful docuseries that Netflix produced on the case, scandalized everyone by creating suspicions of an alleged pedophile clue that would involve none other than John Paul II (1978-2005).

LOOK: Who was Emanuela Orlandi, the young woman who disappeared in the Vatican whose case has just been reopened

In an Italian television program, Orlandi hinted that Karol Wojtyla, who was proclaimed a saint in April 2014, could be behind the terrible mystery.. “They tell me that Wojtyla every so often at night went out with two Polish monsignors and clearly did not go to bless houses,” Orlandi said on Tuesday, April 4, on “Di martedí,” a television journalistic program in which the audio of a call was also heard. telephone in which a former member of the criminal gang from the Magliana neighborhood in Rome implicated the Polish pope in what would have been sexual parties with minors.

Pietro Orlandi in an image from January this year. (Gregorio Borgia / AP).

“I think that one of the possibilities is that Emanuela may have suffered abuse, but that that abuse was organized to create the object of blackmail”, explained his brother this Tuesday, after having been received for the first time in the Vatican by the promoter of Justice, Alessandro Diddi. He provided the prosecutor with that same audio and all the information that he accumulated in these forty years of dramatic search. “I have perceived the will to settle things down. Diddi himself told me that he had the mandate to make it 100% clear, without discounting anyone, ”he stressed, before the press, announcing that it would also be good if “several cardinals” were heard in the Vatican investigation.

The truth is that the phrase “shock” pronounced by Orlandi implying a holy pope caused a real storm. Especially at a time when Pope Francis’ will to shed light on a disappearance that at one time was thought to be connected to an international lead related to the attack against John Paul II in 1981, later to shady business dealings of the gang, became evident. from Magliana, then to the mafia and finally, according to the Netflix docuseries, to possible abuses.

In the midst of a climate of absolute astonishment, the first to break the silence yesterday was the Polish Cardinal Stanislaus Dziwisz, archbishop emeritus of Krakow and for years a faithful personal secretary of John Paul II. In a harsh statement, in which he did not hide his indignation, although he admitted that “what was done to Emanuela and her family was a gigantic crime”, he also considered it “criminal to profit from it with uncontrollable delusions, tending to preventively discredit people and environment, until proven otherwise, worthy of universal esteem”.

Pope John Paul II. (AFP). (-/)

Recognizing that the “incompressible pain of a family that has not heard from their daughter for 40 years deserves all the respect and closeness” and after predicting that the truth will emerge from the “lots of evidence, mythomania and lies”, Dziwisz also highlighted that at the time John Paul II intervened. “As the private secretary of John Paul II, I can testify without fear of being denied, that from the first moment the Holy Father took charge of the matter, he acted and caused him to act so that it could have a happy result, he never encouraged cover-up actions, he always He showed affection, closeness, help in the most diverse ways to Emanuela’s family”, he evoked.

The Vatican today expressed the same indignation. In an article he wrote on the front page of L’Osservatore Romanoits editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, who, unlike the cardinal, literally mentioned Pietro Orlandi and his television appearance in which he insinuated that John Paul II went out at night with monsignors to look for girls and denounced his “absurd accusations and defamatory”.

“Although this media massacre saddens and anguishes the hearts of millions of believers and non-believers, defamation must be denounced because it is unworthy of a civilized country to treat anyone in this way, alive or dead, clergyman or layman, pope, metal mechanic or unemployed youth”, wrote Tornielli. “It is fair that everyone answer for any crimes, if they have committed them, without any impunity or privileges. It is sacrosanct that a 360-degree investigation is being made to find the truth about Emanuela’s disappearance, ”he added. “But no one deserves to be slandered in this way, without even a shred of proof, based on what is ‘said’ by some unknown character from the criminal underworld or some scrawny anonymous comment made on live television,” he shot.

Defending

In a red-hot climate, in a statement released this morning, before the article appeared in L’Osservatore RomanoAlthough there is a video in which it is seen that he said what he said on the television program, Orlandi tried to defend himself. “Mr. Orlandi did not want to make accusations towards anyone and has reiterated it before the promoter. He only asked that the search for the truth be unconditional, ”wrote his lawyer, Laura Sgró, in a statement.

“It is unfortunate that some people have extrapolated a sentence by manipulating the total picture of their statements. It is also unfortunate that, among those who accuse him through the press of hurting the memory of those who are no longer there, there is also someone who, having been contacted by Mr. Orlandi numerous times, has always refused to have an authentic face to face and sincere with him,” he added, in an obvious jab at Cardinal Dziwisz, whom he did not mention.

“The search for the truth is an act of courage and the Holy Father has stated that he wants to walk this path with strength. The omen is that this extraordinary act, but due, does not belong only to His Holiness”, concluded the lawyer Sgró, in a sentence that did not lower the tension and in which the only one who was well off was Pope Francis.

By Elisabetta Pique

Source: Elcomercio