Vatican Embassy: Human remains found in a property in Rome

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Human remains found in a Vatican-owned Vatican property could provide information on a 35-year-old mystery.

The bone fragments were found during construction work at the Vatican Embassy in Italy, near the city's famous museum, Villa Borghese.

A Vatican statement said experts were trying to determine the age and sex of the human remains, as well as the date of death.

Italian media have speculated that it may be the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee who disappeared in 1983.

The disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, aged 15, is largely related to organized crime or an attempt to force the release of prison from Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who attempted to assassinate the Pope John Paul II in 1981.

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Orlandi's brother, Pietro, has been campaigning for decades to find out what happened to him. He accused the Vatican of remaining silent in this case.

But the remains could be those of Mirella Gregori, who disappeared in Rome 40 days before Orlandi and was also 15, the media also reported.

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She answered the intercom in her family's apartment and told her parents that he was a classmate. She said that she was going out to talk to her and never came back.

The detectives say that it is possible that the cases are connected.

"During restoration work in a space annexed to the Apostolic Nunciature of Italy, fragments of human bone were found," the Vatican said in a statement.

He said that as soon as the remains were found, the Vatican gendarmerie informed the Italian authorities and the Holy See, and an investigation was opened.

The Vatican has repeatedly stated that it has fully cooperated with the police charged with investigating the Orlandi case.