Pope Francis defends John Paul II against ‘offensive accusations’

Pope Francis publicly denounced allegations made against Pope John Paul II on Italian television last week by Pietro Orlandi, the brother of Emanuela Orlandi. Last year, Ms. Orlandi’s mysterious disappearance from the Vatican almost 40 years ago, when she was just 15-years-old, inspired “Vatican Girl,” a documentary series on Netflix.  

Mr. Orlandi, speaking on an Italian TV program, said that he had learned from a source that “John Paul II sometimes went out at night with two Polish monsignors, and he clearly did not go out to bless houses.” His comments have been understood to imply that the late pope was out sexually grooming young women at night. They were all the more surprising because they were made immediately after a lengthy meeting earlier that day between Mr. Orlandi, his lawyer and Alessandro Diddi—the Vatican’s chief prosecutor—to discuss the case.

When pressed after his interview to share the details of the comments implicating the saint-pope, Mr. Orlandi and his lawyer invoked their legal privilege no to disclose their source. Mr. Orlandi, through his lawyer, said that his comments “never accused John Paul II of these attempts at going out after girls,” Gerry reports. “This frustrated the prosecutor,” Gerry says, and “the prosecutor says, this is a break in the investigation, stopping the investigation,” and jeopardizes the ongoing process.

In the second half of the show, Gerry and Ricardo share what happened at a press conference in Rome on Monday, April 17, where Hans Zollner, S.J., explained in greater detail why he resigned suddenly last month from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Father Zollner is a German, Jesuit priest and the most recognizable authority on dealing with the scourge of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Father Zollner has said his resignation was necessary because of shortcomings on “responsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency,” within the commission. 

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Links from the show

Pope Francis defends John Paul II

• Pope Francis defends John Paul II in ‘Vatican Girl’ case
• Pope Francis wants the truth out on decades-old cold case of the missing ‘Vatican girl’ in safeguarding commission
• ‘Vatican Girl’: Netflix’s true-crime documentary on the Holy See’s 40-year-old missing person mystery
• Vatican Intrigue: A Jesuit’s secret identity and a new Netflix true crime series

Hans Zollner, S.J., resigns

• Jesuit abuse expert Hans Zollner explains decision to resign from Vatican safeguarding commission

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