Pope Francis calls 'insinuations' against John Paul II unfounded

Pope Francis leads Regina Caeli prayer from his window at the Vatican, April 16, 2023. Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday rejected as offensive and unfounded what he called insinuations by the brother of a Vatican schoolgirl who went missing 40 years ago about one of his predecessors as pontiff, Saint John Paul II.

Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican usher, failed to return home on June 22, 1983 following a music lesson in Rome. She was 15 at the time and lived with her family inside the Vatican. Her disappearance is one of Italy's most enduring mysteries.