
The Vatican pushed back hard Friday at “slanderous” insinuations against St. John Paul II that were aired following the reopening of an investigation into the 1983 disappearance of the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee.
The kerfuffle erupted after Emanuela Orlandi’s brother, Pietro, spent eight hours meeting Tuesday with Vatican prosecutors, who earlier this year reopened the dormant investigation into Emanuela’s disappearance. The Vatican probe has coincided with the recent decision by Italy’s parliament to open a parliamentary commission of inquest into the case, giving the Orlandi family hope that the truth might finally emerge.