My favorite picture of Pope Francis! Xanax wasn’t for me, but still.
When I found out the pope died, the first person I thought of was Manuela Orlandi. She was a 15 year old who was kidnapped from Vatican City in 1983. She was born and raised there, and her father worked very closely with the pope. In fact, her father served three popes.
When Pope Francis was “inaugurated” (is that the right word?), Manuela’s brother approached him and demanded answers. The pope simply brushed him off saying, “Your sister is in heaven”. But the brother was like- how does he KNOW my sister is in heaven?
The first person I thought of was him. I wonder if he’ll go up to the new pope whenever the “inauguration” happens and do the same thing. It will probably be the last pope to be old enough to remember 1983. You can watch a detailed documentary about Manuela and her brother’s own personal investigation here.
Many of you may not know, but I’m pretty passionate about missing people who may still be alive. It irks me when they are assumed dead with no evidence. I want more to be found alive in my life time. The prevailing theory about Manuela was that she was taken to be a s3x sl@ve for a mafia boss who gave millions to the Vatican. There was audio footage of him raping her. You might say that if she was still alive today at age 56, she’d come back to her family. Not necessarily! There are a million things to unpack regarding someone who is alive and considered a missing person will not just be like “here I am”, especially with both the Vatican and the mafia involved. Manuela had a lot of siblings and probably by now a ton of nieces and nephews and would worry for their safety. She might be in a secluded convent. Or she may have been murdered shortly after her mafia kidnapper died in 1990.
I hope her brother approaches the new pope! And I hope we find her!
I didn't know about her but so many people go missing in the world each year and are never found it's crazy.
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