Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi

Emanuela Orlandi (born 14 January 1968) was a Vatican teenager who mysteriously disappeared while returning home from music school in Rome on 22 June 1983. The case received worldwide attention due to the public appeal of Pope John Paul II for her release after an unnamed terrorist organisation claimed to be holding the girl in exchange for the liberation of Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish terrorist who two years before attempted to assassinate the Pope. However, the subsequent investigation discovered that the allegation of international terrorism was a misdirection, and the real motive of the disappearance remains unknown.

Over the course of decades, the case has created much speculation about the involvement of international terrorism, organized crime, the role of a possible serial killer, and a plot inside the Holy See to cover up a sex scandal involving ecclesiastical figures. Orlandi's family, in particular her brother Pietro, have consistently pressed the Vatican for the release of information about the case, believing that the Holy See knew more than it admitted. The Vatican has always maintained strict silence about the matter, denying any accusation of involvement, but over the years, many voices from inside the Holy See suggested that someone actually knew what happened to the missing girl.