<p class="title">Human remains have been discovered at a Rome property owned by the Vatican, the Holy See said Tuesday, in a potential breakthrough for police investigating one of Italy's darkest mysteries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"During restoration works in a space annexed to the Apostolic Nunciature of Italy... fragments of human bone were found," the Vatican said in a statement, in reference to the diplomatic office of the Holy See in Rome.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A police investigation is underway to establish the age and gender of the body and date of death.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Media reports said the remains were discovered on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Detectives will be looking in particular at whether they are a DNA match for Emanuela Orlandi or Mirella Gregori, both of whom were underage when they went missing separately in Rome in 1983.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Orlandi was the daughter of a member of the Vatican's police, and was last seen on June 22, 1983 when leaving a music class.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Theories have circulated that the then 15-year-old was kidnapped by an organised crime gang to put pressure on Vatican officials to recover a loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another claim was that she was taken to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate Pope Jean Paul II in 1981.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Her brother Pietro has been leading a decades-long campaign to find out what happened to her and has accused the Vatican of silence and even complicity in the case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Vatican has said on several occasions that it has cooperated with Italian police over the case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gregori disappeared exactly 40 days before Orlandi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Her mother says Gregori answered the intercom at the family apartment before telling her parents it was a school friend and she was going out to speak to him. She never returned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Investigators have not ruled out that the cases could be connected.</p>
<p class="title">Human remains have been discovered at a Rome property owned by the Vatican, the Holy See said Tuesday, in a potential breakthrough for police investigating one of Italy's darkest mysteries.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"During restoration works in a space annexed to the Apostolic Nunciature of Italy... fragments of human bone were found," the Vatican said in a statement, in reference to the diplomatic office of the Holy See in Rome.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A police investigation is underway to establish the age and gender of the body and date of death.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Media reports said the remains were discovered on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Detectives will be looking in particular at whether they are a DNA match for Emanuela Orlandi or Mirella Gregori, both of whom were underage when they went missing separately in Rome in 1983.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Orlandi was the daughter of a member of the Vatican's police, and was last seen on June 22, 1983 when leaving a music class.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Theories have circulated that the then 15-year-old was kidnapped by an organised crime gang to put pressure on Vatican officials to recover a loan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Another claim was that she was taken to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate Pope Jean Paul II in 1981.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Her brother Pietro has been leading a decades-long campaign to find out what happened to her and has accused the Vatican of silence and even complicity in the case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Vatican has said on several occasions that it has cooperated with Italian police over the case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gregori disappeared exactly 40 days before Orlandi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Her mother says Gregori answered the intercom at the family apartment before telling her parents it was a school friend and she was going out to speak to him. She never returned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Investigators have not ruled out that the cases could be connected.</p>