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January 10, 2023

Vatican prosecutor opens investigation into Orlandi disappearance

Workers inspect an ossuary at the Teutonic Cemetery at the Vatican in this July 20, 2019, file photo. The ossuary was inspected in the hope of finding the missing remains of a German princess and duchess and possibly the remains of Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared in 1983. The Vatican prosecutor has opened a new investigation into the disappearance 40 years ago of Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee.

The disappearance 40 years ago of Emanuela Orlandi has haunted her family, fueled conspiracy theories and provided grist for a recent Netflix series.

Published in Vatican
April 30, 2020

Case closed: Vatican says bones are not those of missing woman

Workers survey bones taken from an ossuary at the Teutonic cemetery in this image released by the Vatican July 27, 2019. The Vatican announced April 30, 2020, that the Vatican City State court officially closed its investigation into the possibility that some of the remains belonged to Emanuela Orlandi, the teenage woman missing for more than 30 years.

VATICAN CITY -- Because all of the human bones found in a Vatican cemetery last summer were at least 100 years old, the Vatican City State court officially closed its investigation into the possibility that some of the remains belonged to a teenage woman missing for more than 30 years.

Published in Vatican
July 29, 2019

Missing woman's remains not found among bones

Workers survey bones taken from an ossuary at the Teutonic cemetery in this image released by the Vatican July 27, 2019. The bones were inspected in the hope of finding the missing remains of a German princess and duchess and possibly the remains of Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared in 1983. The Vatican announced that none of the bones postdate the 1800s.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican press office said that the results of a morphological analysis of bones and bone fragments found at an ossuary in a Vatican cemetery concluded that none belonged to Emanuela Orlandi, a young Italian woman who has been missing for more than 30 years.

Published in Vatican
July 22, 2019

Forensic experts to study 'thousands of bones' found in Vatican ossuaries

Workers inspect an ossuary at the Teutonic Cemetery at the Vatican July 20, 2019. The ossuary was inspected in the hope of finding the missing remains of a German princess and duchess and possibly the remains of Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared in 1983. Thousands of bones were found in the ossuary, according to a representative of the Orlandi family who was present for the search.

VATICAN CITY -- During a search for the remains of a young Italian woman missing for more than 30 years, workers discovered an enormous number of bones inside two ossuaries in a building next to a Vatican cemetery.

Published in Vatican
July 15, 2019

Missing bones found in Vatican investigation

A worker descends into the tomb of Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe, who died in 1836, during a forensic investigation in the Teutonic Cemetery at the Vatican July 11, 2019. Two tombs were opened based on a tip that the remains of Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared in 1983, could be buried there.

VATICAN CITY (CNA) -- The Vatican has found two ossuaries believed to maybe belong to the German noblewomen whose tombs were found empty earlier this week.

Published in Vatican