The Vatican Knows (about the kidnapping of that young woman)

Fratti’s play is inspired by a New York Times article of May 15, 2012 about the kidnapping of Emanuela Orlandi, daughter of an employee of the Vatican City State. Clues to the crime have led investigators in many different directions and the unsolved case has become a mystery of particular fascination to Italians. The Times article mentioned that weeks after her disappearance, the Vatican received a phone call demanding the release of Mehmet Ali Agca, the gunman who wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981. Brooding on this, Fratti created a personal vision of a possible scenario in which terrorists plot to kidnap a young woman who lives at the Vatican to blackmail the Pope. The play savors the mystery and then looks beyond it.