Vatican tombs opened in search of missing girl

The remains of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi may soon be found after the young girl went missing more than three decades ago.

Emanuela Orlandi has been missing for more than 30 years.

Highlights

By Abigail James (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
7/2/2019 (5 years ago)

Published in Living Faith

Keywords: Vatican City, Vatican Cemetery, Tomb, Emanuela Orlandi

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Vatican has officially announced plans of opening up two tombs from the Vatican City cemetary to determine if Emanuela Orlandi's body was buried there.

This is not the first case where tombs were opened to examine the remains in Vatican City. A similar instance took place in November 2018 with bones found under the Vatican nunicature to Italy. These were also speculated to be Orlandi's, or another missing 15-year-old named Mirella Gregori. However, testing on these bones showed they belonged to a Roman man who died between 90 and 230 AD.

Orlandi went missing on June 22, 1983 while walking home from a music lesson in Rome. The case of the missing girl has never been solved.

The Orlandi family received a small breakthrough in the case after the family lawyer was sent an anonymous note suggesting the teen's remains were buried in the Vatican cemetary, according to the Catholic Herald. 

The Vatican Secretariat of State authorized an investigation into the grave in question. The Vatican office was led to approve the opening of two tombs in the Teutonic Cemetery, next to St. Peter's Basilica. According to Interim Director of the Holy See Press Office, Allesandro Gisotti, this will take place on July 11, 2019. 

Once opened, the remains will be exhumed, dated and tested for DNA.

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