Human remains have been found at the Vatican's embassy to Italy in Rome and police are investigating the matter, the Holy See has said in a statement.
There is speculation that the fragments of bone, discovered on 29 October during restoration work to the building, could be the remains of 15 year-old Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican bank functionary, who disappeared in 1983 on her way to a music lesson.
Orlandi’s body has never been found, and the truth about what happened to her has remained a mystery for the past 35 years.
The Vatican said in a statement on 30 October that forensic experts have been tasked with determining the “age, sex and date of death” of the body. The statement does not mention Orlandi.
The truth about what happened to Orlandi, who’s body has never been found, has remained one of modern Italy’s greatest mysteries.
One theory is that an organised crime gang kidnapped the teenager, possibly to pressurise the Vatican bank into recovering a loan. Another speculates that she was taken hostage in an attempt to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981.
In 2005, an anonymous caller to an Italian television show said the secret to her kidnap was buried along with Enrico “Renatino” De Pedis, a Mafia boss who led the feared Magliana gang which terrorised Rome in the 1980s.
Police eventually exhumed De Pedis’ tomb in 2012, but found no links to Orlandi’s death.
Orlandi’s brother Pietro has been leading a decades-long campaign to find out what happened and has even accused the Vatican of complicity in the case.
The Vatican has repeatedly said that it has co-operated fully with police investigating the case.
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