ROME – American adoptees have written a letter to Pope Francis asking for an official apology for the Vatican’s role in a scheme which sent hundreds of Italian babies born out of wedlock to America from 1950-1970.

 A CBS News documentary made public the stories of many Americans who have discovered recently that their real mothers are alive and across the pond. Organised by Monsignor Andrew Landi, an estimated 3500 babies from 1950-1970 were given to Catholic families in the US on the grounds of being ‘orphans’.

 In reality, the majority of the children were born out of wedlock, and in many cases the unmarried mother was shamed or deceived into giving in their child. 

 Now, these ‘orphans’ are wanting to get back in contact with their Italian heritage, and have written a letter to the pontiff in hopes that he will acknowledge the complicity of the Church, as he did recently in Belgium where a similar scheme was implemented.

 The letter details the ongoing ‘struggle’ of American adoptees to unravel the lies that have made up their life until recently. Considering the recent apology to Belgium, they ask, ‘we wondered if the Vatican is also considering apologising to American adoptees and their Italian mothers?’