by Br. Alexis Bugnolo
It is with a heavy heart that I write this article. I write it because I am beholden to facts and reasons in all explanations I give or attempt to give. I have written more about the Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI than perhaps any other author, including those who have written books, since there at from Rome it is the principle topic of more than 10,000 articles. I have advanced many more speculative explanations than others too, and some of my conjectures and reconstructions have been accepted by famous and notable persons such as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò (the Great Catholic Reset) and Andrea Cionci (the Ratzinger Code).
An Introduction
But now, after Roberto Morassut, the vice-president of the Italian Senatorial Commission investigating the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi and Mirella Gregori has come to the same conclusion that I did, though about 14 months later than myself, I consider it my duty once again to connect the dots and draw out the figure no matter where those dots lead.
I have discussed this in English, yesterday, as Part 6 of the investigation into the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi conducted by AJ Baalman at Ordo Militaris Radio TV, a report every Catholic with a strong stomach and stronger faith needs to listen to if they want to know what is really been going on in the Church since 1983:
And, for the background, this report from FanPage.it, which details the conclusion of the investigation:
The article is in Italian, but I consider it necessary in such an important matter to quote the original, before I summarize it, as was done in the above show at OMC Ratio TV.
The explanation of how Roberto Morrasut arrived at his conclusion is given in that show, so I won’t repeat it here, as it deserves a very detailed explanation, and if you do not know all the facts of the Orlandi case it is easy to miss or dismiss. So watch that show before you continue reading this present Article of mine.
The Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI was an academic and book-lover. I understand the personality because my own Father was an academic and booklover, and I am at least of the number of the latter, if not formally of the former, since I never pursued a graduate degree in anything or taught in a University or College.
This type of man is inclined to be both innocent and myopic in his intellectual affairs, that is, not that he does not read many topics, but that his attention is to things intellectual and textual, and not on the goings on around him. He does not have, by nature, the forensic mentality of the policeman who has worked in a City arresting and investigating all kinds of criminals on a daily basis throughout decades of his professional career in law enforcement. This latter kind of man can, with a single glance, detect who is up to something criminal. I know this because one of these once gave me a brief lesson in paying attention, by taking me to a supermarket and pointing out to me in the space of two or three minutes 5 persons involved in shoplifting! in a supermarket that was going to be closed down, because it had been overrun by a local criminal petty-theft ring.
This latter kind of man does not miss a thing, literally. But the former man can live among thieves and criminals of even the worst kind for an entire lifetime and never see a thing. Criminals consider the first kind of man totally naive, and the latter kind of man their worst enemy and nightmare.
And thus it was that Pope Benedict XVI was elected to the Apostolic Throne in April of 2005. For he was apparently the only man in the heart of the Vatican who had no idea what had been going on since 1983, when Emanuela Orlandi disappeared.
He had been made Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Nov. 25, 1981, just 18 months before the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi on June, 22 1983. At that time his office did not have the duty to oversee sex-abuse cases committed by clergy: that was the duty of the Congregation for the Clergy. The new Code of Canon Law was not yet published, that would happen on January 25, 1983, some 14 months later.
So when Emanuela disappeared it is quite possible that Cardinal Ratzinger knew nothing of the case and paid it no attention, other than the fact that the girl was a citizen of Vatican City, for at that time the common opinion was that she disappeared in the streets of Rome, as one of the many girls who disappear annually in cities of the world, all over the world, and are forgotten by all but their family. One of the great tragedies of the world.
But on Dec. 17, 2012 A. D., nearly 31 years and 6 months after the disappearance of Emanuela, there was placed on the desk, as it were, the 6 boxes of documentation prepared by the Commission of 3 Cardinals, whom the now Pope Benedict XVI had tasked with investigating the corruption at the Vatican, with particular attention to sex-trafficking.
He probably began this investigation because of the testimony brought to him by none other than Father Gabriel Amorth, the famous Exorcist of Rome, who spoke about it in his recent book, published that spring, as was reported here on May 22, 2012 by the U.K. Telegraph:
It has been 13 years, nearly, since that report, but I now surmise that on Dec. 17, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI learned, at last, the truth of the matter, which Morassut just pointed to: namely, that Emanuela was kidnapped and murdered to conceal her pregnancy by none other than Pope John Paul II himself and his friends, who “took her to bed” in the Vatican, and that the very man at whose side he worked for so many years, the man whom he had even BEATIFIED as a living saint, was rather one of the most foul and devious men in the history of the Papacy.*
This truth, realized, broke Pope Benedict XVI. If he remained Pope he would have to expose it, or hide it. Pope John Paul II’s canonization was already being prepared. Pope Benedict XVI would have to perform the ceremony himself, or make some excuse which would lead to even greater scrutiny.
So he did a thing, which no courageous man would do, he resigned. And since he feared the legal complications of being involved in a cover up, he gave up all governance of the Vatican while retaining all the immunity in law of a Pope.
And this is the reason why he renounced the ministry and not the munus of the Petrine Office!
And everyone in the Vatican also knew this, because the contents of the report were already in the most secret gossip channels of the city state.
If this reconstruction is correct, then it explains many things, which still to this day are inexplicable.
- Why all the Cardinals insist Pope Benedict XVI validly abdicated
- Why all the Cardinals faithful to Pope Benedict XVI did not want him to resign and yet are the most vocal in insisting he did
- Why none of the Cardinals who were enemies of Pope Benedict XVI took the position that his resignation was invalid or tolerate any discussion of it
- Why a creep of the likes of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, himself involved in covering up all the sex-crimes of the Archdiocese of Buenas Aires (a known fact which is disputed by no one) and perhaps even a sexual groomer himself (as Archbishop Viganò claims there are testimonies in favor of), was elected in the faux Conclave of 2013
- Why Bergoglio did not even to pretend to assist in the investigation of the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi until 3 days after the Funeral of Pope Benedict XVI
- Why no one in the Vatican, currently, or who previously worked there, except Viganò who has been excommunicated, knows anything about the Orlandi Case or if they do, are willing to speak about it.
- Why no one in the Vatican, currently, or who previously worked there, excepting Viganò who has been excommunicated, appears willing to discuss the munus vs. ministerium problem.
- Why no one in the Vatican seemingly can figure out why the Renunciation is invalid or the Conclave of 2013 canonically null and void.
- Why the faux Conclave of 2013 elected a Pope to grovel before the world, doing everything possible to appear favorable to the press and even thanking them for covering up scandals
- Why a man like Pope John Paul II would ask Father Rupnik, S. J. to decorate his private chapel with sexually inspired art.
Conclusion
If everything I have said above is correct, then Pope Benedict XVi resigned because he fled before the wolves, primarily speaking. He renounced the ministerium not the munus on purpose with the primary intent to protect himself, personally. And he kept silent about the entire matter of Orlandi and his failed Renunciation, insisting he was no longer running the Vatican, to avoid having anything to do with the case or its revelation.
In other words, Pope Benedict XVI was a tragic figure, who in the last great moral battle of his life, failed God, himself and the Church, and humanly speaking, failed most of all this little girl of 15 years, who disappeared and was never found again.
POSTSCRIPT: I consider the importance of getting to the truth of what happened to Emanuela Orlandi, a citizen of the Vatican City State, of a family who served 7 popes, whose father was a clerk in the Pontifical Household of Pope John Paul II, and lived nearby, and who was herself known to Pope John Paul II, something more important than the reputation of any Pope, precisely because a Pope is gravely obligated to be a living saint and a man of the highest moral integrity. The Case of Emanuela Orlandi obviously impinges upon 3 recent Popes, and as it is it cannot be denied to also impugn their reputations.
This article has been written to answer the question as to what kind of Conspiracy was at the basis of the Renunciation. If true, it means that the next Pope will have a herculean task of saving the reputation of the Church from the most ghastly and horrible crimes against a Catholic Family at the Vatican, ever known to have been perpetrated and covered up by 3 popes. I have written for this purpose, because I love Catholic families everywhere and want them protected from criminals and perverts. But I have written it also, so that Catholics might share it, thus, that in the next Conclave all the Cardinals may know the gig is up and that the only way they can extricate themselves from personal responsibility in this horrendous and monstrous conspiracy, is for them to elect someone not involved to put an end to this evil silence and drain this foul and evil swamp!
FootNote: While it is true that Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the personal secretary of Pope John Paul II in those years has categorically denied this construction of facts about the late Pope, as recently as April 17, 2023, it must be noted that he himself is now being brought before an ecclesiastical commission after being accused of being one of a group of priests who sodomized young men during orgies, while he was still in Poland and served the future Pope, as is reported here on January 7, 2025. An ironic turn of events which only adds to the preponderance of evidence in favor of the principle thesis of my Article. Moreover, on the same day in April 2023, Pope Francis himself denied that “Pope John Paul II went out at night prowling for young girls”. Yet, that is not even the substance of the accusation. In fact it only rebuts the speculation of a minor witness. This is the classic limited denial to disinform. And the substance of Pope Francis’ argument was that John Paul II was canonized; the faithful accept it: so shut up! — Now, that strategy is no longer going to work.
UPDATE: This article, which was appearing in Google & DuckduckGo search results under “Orlandi, Pope Benedict XVI” for the first 36 hours after its publication is now being censored totally, ostensibly at the request of the Vatican. Instead both engines are flooding results for this same query with link to events from 2023 or earlier, even when you select, “reports in the last week”. That is, they are breaking their own search engines to hide this article!
This coordinated state sponsored censorship of this news is not new. For when the audio testimony linking John Paul II to the disapperance first made it to non-state controlled Italian TV in early January of 2023, a flurry of articles appeared to discount it, like this one in the Italian version of Huffington Post, in an unsigned article citing an unnamed German journal, which is alleged to have claimed that the real reason for the Resignation was, “insomnia”. Yeah, I am sure it was! This highly-likely USAID funded propaganda site was clearly attempting to keep the truth under raps.
This article read in Italian:
This is very weird . I recall form news reports at the time that this was a kidnapping with requests for ransom which were not met due to decisions by the civil authorities while Pope JP II publicly voiced requests for the safe return of the victim .
The “ransom” requests were from an American voice, even though no American was ever alleged to have been a part of the story. It is presumed that it was a Vatican official from the USA who faked the ransom calls as a cover story.
In 2012, I was given a commemorative coin with the image of John Paul II in connection with his beatification. It caused such a disturbance in my house, that I promptly threw it away, though I knew nothing about Emanuela Orlandi then. I do not doubt the truth of this report.
Wow. That’s the very reason why there should be no so called abortion pills, because they may be used on young girls to hide who the father of the baby was. I don’t know the story well, I just heard about it, but is it to late to exhume the body of this poor girl, to do the DNA test for who the father of the baby was?
Your are absolutely right about the connection of abortion to sex trafficking. The dark cloud over the Vatican becomes darker still when you find out that Pius XI allowed Vatican monies to be invested in the largest producer of contraceptives in Italy, a thing which only ended during the reign of Paul VI.
I don’t know if your theory is true, but the logic behind it seems coherent. In fact, as you may know, brother, many ancient prophecies from different saints and seers describe an invasion of the Vatican and the murder/martyrdom of a pope. While this is a difficult scenario to imagine today, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens due to public outrage if this conspiracy is true and comes to light.
Could this be why we can’t get anywhere with the Sutri Initiative?
I kinda think so, but only because it was not included in the petition.
Now if in your cover letter, you speak of your concerns regarding the Emanuela Orlandi case and its implications regarding the resignation of Pope Benedict and the illegal conclave of 2013, asking the Bishop to take action to make sure he is not named a future co-conspirator the coverup of a pedo-murder case, you might very well light a fire somewhere in his soul and/or cause him to mess his pants.
So actually, the revelations in this pedo-murder case have just given the faithful INFINITE LEVERAGE over all the Bishops in the Roman Province, because if they know they could do something to get to the bottom of this scandal and rectify the coverup which led to the fake resignation and faux conclave, but do nothing, they ostensibly become liable in many jurisdictions for complicity in the coverup after the fact, and can be denounced to the World Court in the Hague.
But we need an expert in international human rights law to write up the accusation or at least to phrase it succinctly so it can be placed in a cover letter, accurately, so that when the Bishop shows it to such a lawyer, the full shock of the potential charges will move him to counsel the bishop to act. Presumably, the ones appointed by Bergoglio are accomplices in the coverup, because it must be assumed that he appointed them to participate in the 12 year long cover up for which he himself is responsible.
If you find such a lawyer to compose a letter, I will promptly sign my name to it. If you do not, I will do my best to compose it myself for a third round of Sutri Initiative letters.
St. Louis IX, Crusader King, pray for us.
I would have never thought of all of that. I just copied your letter. All of this information is so upsetting.
We need to look to Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith, because He alone is the light in the hell of the darkness of the sins of this world.
Thank you and AJ for the work you have done and are doing in this case. I have been following Emanuela Orlandi’s case for 2 decades now, when I first found out about it. Never felt JPII was a saint, though all around me he had his cheerleaders. Thank you for being most explicit in spelling out the facts. As the Church goes, so goes the world, and unfortunately, the Church leaders were bad for many decades. As Our Lady of LaSalette said, “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist; the Church will be in eclipse”. So happy the truth is coming out – know the truth and the truth will set you free!
I do not think that Pope John Paul II was personally involved with the crimes of the sex traffickers. However, it seems likely he knew of them but for whatever reason did not bring those responsible to justice, which is why Emanuela’s father said on his death bed that his employer had let him down. The parables of Jesus (eg. Matthew 13.24-13.30) remind me there will be an end to this “church of darkness,” (to quote Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich).
Amazing Brother Bugnolo. You have an extraordinary ability to connect the dots.
I feel sorry for Pope Benedict XVI. He was put in a horrible situation and would have felt completely trapped having read the report on Dec 17th, 2012. Having worked at the Vatican for 31 years, no one would have believed if he said he was unaware that JPII was involved in a sex ring. And in the years leading up to his fake resignation, there were already calls from the media to have him investigated for covering up child abuse in the church. He would have gotten no quarter and he would have had taken the blame for something he did not do. Very scary for anyone to face.
Pope Benedict XVI seemed to me from the get go to be put upon from all sides and a man alone and even in death they treated him horribly. I remember he always asked that we pray for him and to this day I still pray for him each and every day. The truth will come out, whatever that may be, as it always does.
I agree. I fear though that when he realized how they had totally used him and exploited him the disappointment must have been total.
Many thanks indeed for this excellent investigative article & its conclusion which ‘joins up many dots’ – I have left an appreciative comment underneath the OMC Radio TV programme.
The filth at the highest levels of the Church’s hierarchy since the late 1950s/early 1960s has been a source of great surprise & regret & sadness to me in the 13 years since my conversion from the Church of England and, for sure, it all needs to be extirpated before Holy Mother Church can truly resume Her mission as the Bride of Christ.
St. Scholastica, pray for us.
The Seven Founders of the Servants of Mary
12 February 2025 A. D.
Brother Alexis,
Thank you for following this story. I believe you’re following these leads to their ends is persuasive, convincing, and courageous. You’ve got a knack for Investigation.
Everything you’ve uncovered so far rings true. Following the story with interest . . . .
C. Benischek
Thanks.
I thought Pope Benedict XVI might be a saint… oh well.
Well, maybe I’m missing some implications then, but what about this would change your mind? It isn’t saying that Benedict was involved in the crime or the coverup, but rather just oblivious, no?