Between 1950 and 1970, hundreds of Italian children were sent to the United States with the promise of a better future. Officially, these children were presented as orphans in search of an adoptive family, but the reality was very different: many were children of single mothers, forced to give up their children for social and economic reasons. A CBS News investigation recently brought this dramatic truth to light, raising questions that even reached Pope Francis.
CBS research revealed that a Vatican-orchestrated scheme brought 3,500 Italian children to the United States to be adopted by American Catholic families. Monsignor Andrew Landi, a representative of the former National Catholic Welfare Conference, played a crucial role in arranging visas for these children. However, the investigation made clear that most of the children were not actually orphans; many were the children of women who had experienced unwanted pregnancies.
The investigation found that mothers were often pressured or deceived in the adoption process. These practices were not isolated: similar situations also occurred in Belgium and Ireland, where religious institutions were involved in similar forms of baby trafficking.
Recently, the television program “60 Minutes” covered this story, inspired by Maria Laurino’s book The Price of the Innocents (Longanesi 2023) and collecting testimonies from several American adoptees. In a letter delivered to the Pope, the applicants underlined the difficulties they faced in their search for their Italian birth mothers and asked if the Vatican intends to apologize for these forced adoptions. The letter notes that during a recent trip to Belgium, Pope Francis has already acknowledged the injustices related to forced adoptions that occurred there. Now the writers wonder whether the same recognition will be given to the Italian victims.
The issue of forced adoptions continues to raise controversy and unanswered questions. The hope is that media attention and public pressure will lead to greater transparency from the institutions involved. The demand for justice for Italian mothers and American adoptees is a necessary step toward repairing the injustices of the past. It is essential that this dark history be shed light on so that similar abuses cannot be repeated in the future.
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