VATICAN CITY – Cardinal Stanislao Dziwisz, the former personal secretary to John Paul II, has strongly denied the “rambling accusations” made by Emanuela Orlandi’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, of Pope John Paul II’s involvement in his sister’s disappearance in June 1983. 

 Speaking on the DiMartedì programme on Tuesday evening, Orlandi claimed that Pope John Paul II may have personally been involved in the abduction of Emanuela.

 Speaking to journalist Giovanni Floris, Orlandi said, “They tell me that Pope John Paul II sometimes went out in the evening with two Polish Monsignors and they certainly did not go out to bless houses…”

 Dziwisz has branded these claims as “rambling accusations” which “are in reality false from beginning to end, unrealistic, laughable to the point of comedy if they were not tragic and indeed criminal in themselves.”

 “As the private secretary of Pope John Paul II,” Dziwisz continued, “I can testify, without fear of contradiction, that from the very first moment the Holy Father took charge of the affair, he acted and made people act so that it would have a happy outcome, he never encouraged actions of any concealment, he always showed affection, closeness, help in the most diverse ways to Emanuela's family.”

 “I continue to adhere to these attitudes, hoping for correctness from all players and hoping that Italy, the universal cradle of law, will know how to use its legal system to watch over the right to a good reputation of those who are no longer with us today, but who watch and intercede from on high.”

 Orlandi’s reply was not long awaited. On Facebook, he shared the article with the Polish cardinal’s words, commenting, “The mudslinging against me is about to begin, instrumentalising what I say and how I say it.”

cw