The tomb of a mafia don buried in a basilica in Rome is to be opened in an attempt to solve a mystery that has dogged the Vatican for three decades.
It is thought the sarcophagus could contain not only the skeleton of the notorious mob gangster, Enrico "Renatino" De Pedis, but also the remains of a teenage schoolgirl who went missing in strange circumstances in the summer of 1983.
Emanuela Orlandi, who was 15 at the time of her disappearance, was the daughter of a Vatican employee.
Investigators have said in the past that there were murky financial transactions between the Holy See and the gang and that the schoolgirl was kidnapped by De Pedis in an attempt to recover money that he was owed.
Another theory is that she was abducted to be used as a bargaining chip for the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill John Paul II in St Peter's Square in 1981, reportedly on the orders of the KGB.
Prosecutors in Rome are expected to open the tomb when they relocate it from the Vatican-owned Basilica of Sant' Apollinaire in Rome to a cemetery on the outskirts of the capital within the next month.
There has been pressure to the move the tomb for years – it was thought odd by many Italians that a known gangster should be buried alongside cardinals in a church directly administered by the Holy See.
De Pedis, the leader of the Magliana gang, Rome's most feared criminal outfit, was gunned down by rival gangsters in 1990.
The rector of the church justified the decision by saying that the gangster had been "a generous benefactor of the poor".
The decision to open up the sarcophagus, after years of procrastination and foot-dragging by the authorities, was welcomed by Miss Orlandi's family.
"Finally the Church and the State have come to an accord," said Pietro Orlandi, her brother. "I hope to be present at the opening of the tomb and that the investigations will go ahead with vigour."
Walter Veltroni, a former mayor of Rome who raised the case in parliament last month, said: "It's the necessary step to find out the truth of what happened to Emanuela and to end a real scandal that has weighed on the conscience of the faithful."
The Vatican insisted earlier this month that it has revealed everything it knows about the mystery.
De Pedis, the leader of the Magliana gang, Rome's most feared criminal outfit, was gunned down by rival gangsters in 1990.
The rector of the church justified the decision by saying that the gangster had been "a generous benefactor of the poor".
The decision to open up the sarcophagus, after years of procrastination and foot-dragging by the authorities, was welcomed by Miss Orlandi's family.
"Finally the Church and the State have come to an accord," said Pietro Orlandi, her brother. "I hope to be present at the opening of the tomb and that the investigations will go ahead with vigour."
Walter Veltroni, a former mayor of Rome who raised the case in parliament last month, said: "It's the necessary step to find out the truth of what happened to Emanuela and to end a real scandal that has weighed on the conscience of the faithful."
The Vatican insisted earlier this month that it has revealed everything it knows about the mystery.