The disappearance of 15-year-old scholar Emanuela Orlandi from Rome 40 years ago has remained a mystery, despite numerous investigations over the years.

Now, Pope Francis has demanded a new investigation into the case, giving Vatican’s top prosecutor Alessandro Diddi a carte blanche to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Diddi has assured Orlandi’s family that the Vatican will not rest until the truth is found. The case has been thrust back into the global spotlight following the release of the Netflix series “Vatican Girl” last year.Numerous theories have surfaced over the years regarding Orlandi’s disappearance, including links to the Mafia and human trafficking.

In the 1980s, the Vatican received a letter claiming that Orlandi had been kidnapped by members of the Roman crime clan, the Banda della Magliana, but this link has never been confirmed.

Police have opened two tombs in Rome’s Teutonic Cemetery, but nothing was found. Italy’s lower house has approved the establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate Orlandi’s disappearance, as well as the separate case of a 15-year-old boy, Mirella Gregori, who vanished in 1983.

Despite past failures, Pope Francis remains determined to get to the bottom of the case, and has assigned Vatican’s top prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, to the mystery.

Diddi is determined to find the truth about Orlandi’s disappearance, wherever it may lead.

While the fate of Emanuela Orlandi remains uncertain, the Vatican’s renewed investigation may finally bring some answers to this decades-old mystery.