KIDNAPPING AT THE VATICAN [2025] - PIETRO ORLANDI

The 2025 documentary Kidnapping at the Vatican examines the unsolved 1983 disappearance of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, a Vatican citizen and daughter of a papal employee, who vanished after a music lesson in Rome. Centered on her brother Pietro Orlandi's 42-year quest for answers, it explores theories linking the case to Vatican financial scandals involving the Banco Ambrosiano collapse and Mafia money laundering, international terrorism tied to the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, and internal cover-ups of clerical sexual abuse. The 60-minute film includes family interviews, archival footage of anonymous phone calls demanding her release, and analyses of leads like bones found in 2018 near the Vatican and a 2012 coffin inscription. It details Vatican tribunal reopenings in 2023, Pietro's advocacy for document releases, and Pope Francis's 2013 statement implying her death, highlighting institutional secrecy amid ongoing investigations by Italian and Vatican authorities.