How Old Are The Thousands Of Bones Discovered Beneath Vatican? 500 Years? 50, Possibly 5?

In Rome, in the summer of 1983, a 15-year-old girl vanished on her way home from a music lesson and in the ongoing search for her body thousands of bones have been unearthed by investigators in two ossuary chambers beneath the Vatican.

Every few years another lead appears and resurrects this horrific story and it was only in 2012 The Telegraph published a story entitled “Emanuela Orlandi ‘was kidnapped for sex parties for Vatican police’” by a gang involving “foreign diplomats and the Roman Catholic Church's leading exorcist”. For over three decades the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, the fourth of five children of Ercole and Maria Orlandi, has inspired conspiracy theories involving the mafia, ultra-nationalist, neo-fascists, international terrorist organizations and child sex rituals within the upper levels of Vatican clergy.

Now, a CNN article tells the latest twist in this story after the Orlandi family received an anonymous tip off last year when someone sent them the image of a sculpture with directions to “look where the angel is pointing.” The sculpture was located in the tombs of Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe and Princess Charlotte Federica of Mecklenburg, at the Teutonic Cemetery at the Vatican, and while investigators didn’t find Emanuela Orlandi’s body they did find “Thousands of bones” hidden in two ossuaries (chambers).

Two grave’s underneath angel’s have been excavated in the search of Teutonic cemetery. (Vatican Media)

Rome’s Teutonic Legacy

Reserved for the remains of German-speaking Catholics, the Teutonic Cemetery is located adjacent to the grand Saint Peter's Basilica, where the legendary Circus of Nero once stood during the period of the Roman Empire. This was the site of the first organized, state-sponsored martyrdoms of Christians in AD 65 and it saw the last moments of church founders like Saint Peter. The Emperor Charlemagne is said to have built a school in the middle ages and in the 15th century it was dedicated to German-speaking residents in the city.

Vatican staff permitted entry to the team of forensic investigators on July 11, and while searching for the body of Emanuela Orlandi they found the two chambers full of bones, “corresponding to dozens of people” beneath the floor of an area inside the Teutonic College.

• What Really Lies Hidden in the Vatican Secret Archives?
• Vatican Astronomers Join Search for Extra-Terrestrials
• Prophecy of the Popes: Are We Reaching the End of Days?

The Vatican has allowed a search of its Teutonic Cemetery at the request of the Orlandi family (Vatican Media)

What Exactly Is Being Implied Here?

Emanuela's brother, Pietro Orlandi, aged 60, is holding no punches and his beliefs were made quite clear when he told CNN “The Vatican doesn't want this out and doesn't want to be seen in this way” and that “In the ossuaries, there shouldn't be any recent bones, so if there are, even if it's not Emanuela Orlandi, it will be a problem for the Vatican.” Agreed. Finding modern bodies beneath any floor is indeed going to pose something of a “problem” for any proprietor.

DNA analysis is currently being undertaken and Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the "morphological evaluations” would be available next Saturday, but Orlandi stressed the importance of an independent expert ensuring “the objectivity of the results.” Pietro Orlandi says that the investigation into the ossuaries has been a “great satisfaction” because to think she was buried “just 200 meters from our house” would have been devastating.

Two bodies were exhumed before the space with thousands of bones was revealed. (Vatican Media)

It has to be said that considering their staff have been accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old girl, the Vatican are taking all this in very, very well. Think about it, based only on an “anonymous report” they allowed a tomb to be opened up, something that is normally unheard of. Furthermore, in a July 12 article in Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, the Vatican’s communication director, Andrea Tornielli, said that the tombs had been opened as a sign of “human and Christian closeness” to the Orlandi family.

No matter how ‘friendly’ some of the staff at the Vatican are being, at the highest levels, there must be quite some tension as they await the dating of the ‘thousands of bones’ for everyone knows that having 1000 staff all it takes is one or two bad, bad eggs.

Top image: Two 19th century graves in the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery were opened.    Source: Vatican Media

By Ashley Cowie