On Sunday 3 July , Pope John Paul II , during the Angelus , appealed to those responsible for Orlandi 's disappearance , making the hypothesis of kidnapping official for the first time . Two days later , the Orlandi family received the first of a number of anonymous phone calls . Emanuela was supposedly the prisoner of a terrorist group demanding the release of Mehmet Ali Ağca , the Turkish man who shot the Pope in May 1981 . No other information was given . In the following days , other calls were received , including one from a man identified as " The American " , due to his apparent accent , who played a recording of Orlandi 's voice over the phone . A few hours later , in another phone call to the Vatican , the same man suggested an exchange , of Orlandi for Ağca . The anonymous interlocutor mentioned the " Mario " and " Pierluigi " of the earlier telephone calls , defining them as " members of the organisation "
shot the Pope in May 1981
Pope John Paul II assassination attempt
Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi