The sad story of Emanuela’s disappearance in 1983 from Vatican City has recently been made into a Netflix movie. I have no real desire to see it since it seems to be filled with sensationalism. There is something about heartbreaking atrocities becoming a form of entertainment that offends my soul. Conversely however, it’s very difficult to share the story without actually, sharing the story.
If you you are not familiar with the crime, Wikipedia gives a good rundown. I thought this documentary was rather well done.
I’m not sure why, but she has been on my heart and mind lately, so I went looking for updates. There really aren’t any. Her disappearance represents the end of my own innocence, the death of my trust in even the potential goodness of institutions. I didn’t even know her but I got the message loud and clear that she didn’t matter, that she was just collateral damage from those who really did matter. And because they mattered more then she did, they would never be held accountable.
She was just a bit younger then me, but we were of the same generation, and she lived during a time when these things just did not happen, and certainly not in Vatican City.
Her brother was supposed to give her a ride that day and he didn’t. Likely driven by guilt that doesn’t even belong to him, he has spent a lifetime trying to find out what happened to her and who was responsible. Her father spent his own lifetime loyal and working for the church before dying disillusioned, heartbroken by the betrayal and cover up.
We actually don’t know how the Vatican was involved at all. There are many theories about various connections to the mob, money laundering, banking, terrorism, sex trafficking. They are still just that, speculation, theories, attempts to fill in the blanks and try to understand. There is no concrete evidence proving any of these things.
However, what is concrete and evident is the cover up, the lack of transparency, the code of silence, the failure to take care of their own when it came to this family who deserved answers, an explanation. They were betrayed in that awful way where those you thought you could trust, the things you thought you could believe in, turn out to have all the substance and integrity of a wet paper bag. That is a painful, painful place to be and my heart goes out to them.
If you’ve ever been in that situation, watching a bunch of wet paper bags dissolve into nothingness, the urge to blame yourself can be powerful. Don’t do that! There is no sin in believing in the potential goodness of something or someone, in fact, it is very brave. It is better to have hope, to believe in something and risk betrayal and disappointment, then to never believe in anything at all.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
It seems hopeful that we are so often surprised by what appears on reflection, to be normal human behavior …
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Good point, Jack! CS Lewis once wrote, “Surprised By Joy.” I often think I should be writing something like, “Surprised By Evil,” because I often am. The fact that it is so prevalent and common and yet it still catches me by surprise, is somewhat hopeful. At least I am not resigned to it and do not accept that it is “normal.”
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We could then say: Stochastic normal diverges from human normal expectation ..?
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God is bigger than the institutions, and that’s also helpful.
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Amen! God is bigger then institutions. I sometimes say, “God is not a bureaucrat, that’s the other guy.” That’s probably why we call it all, “red tape.”
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Yep.
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She’s but one of so many innocent lives lost to evil.
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Sadly, you are right, there are so many innocent lives lost to evil. It’s tragic that we can’t offer this family any kind of closure. This case really irked me because statements were made by the church and it was apparent they knew something about what had happened, but they are kind of their own country, they don’t really have to share anything with the police.
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Vatican City answers to no one. What other religious govt is sheltered with supreme immunity?
Does any serious Christian think the gold chairs, the pomp and circumstance, the worship of ‘an infallible man,’ the bullet proof limos, resemble , at all, He who rode a donkey, unarmed??
The trouble is, there is actually some good, but the deceit of priestcraft ie, molestation coverups, bodies unaccounted for, make for a mafia movie, and I’m pretty sure the King of kings does not give His housekeeping seal of approval.
Who is this who sits upon seven hills? Who is this who sits upon many waters? Who is this robed in luxurious wealth?
I am never surprised when hearing of missing people such as Emanuela, even though I know nothing of details, still, one can’t avoid the bread crumbs trails of foul
play. But there’s a post that will ruffle feathers:
Vatican and Fort Knox……
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There are generally a lot of lies floating around about the Catholic church, but there are also bad things that go on in all power hierarchies. The Catholic church is not immune to this, being one of the oldest and biggest. However, doctrinally speaking, the Pope is not considered infallible, and it would be completely heretical to worship him. He does speak infallibly when declaring doctrine, but that happens rarely. Most Catholics I know heavily disagree with Pope Francis regarding politics and social issues. Or at the least they disagree with some of it. Go figure, he is a fallible man with opinions.
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hi jill
That is far too weird that someone can be so wrong on ‘political and social things,’ yet out of the same mouth be spot on because of ‘ex cathedra.’
Personally, i think scripture itself needs not my or your approval to make it true, nor any priest, pastor, rabbi, pope etc.
But do you really think the Vatican is a fine representitive of christianity, when we have posts like we have today here? Imagine what goes on that we dont hear about….
Btw, im no newcome to these opinions, as im told i know more about the catholic faith than catholics, just sayin.
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Yeah, I do think that someone can have opinions I don’t agree with and still be chosen by God for his purpose. The history of the church from the beginning is composed of imperfect people like Peter who will be inspired by the Holy Spirit one moment to declare Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and another to deny Jesus out of his humanness. I’ve never heard Pope Francis even go so far as to deny Jesus. Regarding this post, what is there to say, aside from that a girl disappeared from Vatican City? It’s an unsolved mystery. I went and read a little on the case. There were early eye witnesses that said she ran away from home, and then a lot of theories that pointed at the usual targets: the mafia, the Vatican, and Middle Eastern terrorists. So, which one is true? My imagination is great, but it is also often wrong.
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Well first of all, we can’t really blame this on Pope Francis because she has now been missing for nearly 40 years. It was actually Pope John Paul ll back in 1983 who went and declared she had been kidnapped and appealed to her kidnappers to return her. At the time, the church was claiming that she had been taken by those attempting to force the release of Ağca, the guy who had tried to assassinate the Pope the previous year. So either that was a mistake, a lie, or a diversion, but regardless, those public statements are part of why this is not just a random disappearance of an anonymous girl from Vatican City who might have ran away.
Also, her father worked for the Pope, he was a faithful Catholic his entire life, but by the time he died he felt so betrayed he allegedly renounced the church and his faith entirely. This case is not simply about a girl who went missing, but rather about a church that at the very least neglected and abused this family and at worst, completely exploited and deceived them.
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