Murder in the Vatican

by Lucien Gregoire

  “One thing I can say for certain, in no way did this man break under the weight of the papacy as one would want one to believe. From beginning to end, he was a fireball who drove many of us to break under the weight of our own jobs. There has been no time in my life which I looked forward to the comfort of my bed at night.

  “Yet, if John Paul had indeed fallen victim to foul play, I do not agree only these few had the opportunity. If members of the Vatican hierarchy had been involved, they had available means to employ professional hit men rather than involving themselves.

  “In 1978, about fifty Freemasons were working as maintenance workers in Vatican City. Some of these were members of the right wing terrorist group P2. They often worked in the Papal Apartment and could come and go as they pleased.

  “They could have concealed themselves in the valet’s quarters during the day and waited their chance. The only other private rooms not occupied at night were the dining room and kitchen which were often raided through the evening hours and the salon which doors were always open. The secretaries’ office was occupied by Lorenzi.”

  “Yes,” I told him, “It was a godsend the valet’s brother happened to have died just two days before John Paul’s death.”

  “If P2 was involved,” he corrected me, “it was no godsend.

  “If someone planned the murder of John Paul, they would have had to vacate one of the apartments. The valet’s rooms were best suited as his fitting room was twice removed from the corridor door. They were also the rooms closest to the Pope’s quarters.

  “This doesn’t mean your ‘friends’ Casaroli and Caprio could not have been sharing the valet’s rooms that night, just that they would have been fools to have committed the deed itself.

  I asked, “Where did the $1.3 billion go?”

  No response.

  I followed, “Surely as president of the Vatican bank…”

  He cut me off, “I was never president of the Vatican bank. As you know when you toured the holy grounds, the bank is on the ground floor of the Papal Palace. My office, as president of the IOR, was across St. Peter’s Square in the Palace of the Holy Office.

  “It was that I, as head of the IOR, negotiated the so-called scandal transactions that the IOR became known as the ‘Vatican Bank.’ Yes, I deposited the money in the IOR account in the Patrimony, but that’s where I left off. The Patrimony took over from that point forward. The courts that investigated the scandal tell you that…”

  “Nevertheless, you were involved. Surely you must know what happened to the …”

  He hesitated as if he were about to confess to murder. Then he answered my question. “You don’t run money through war-ravaged parts of the world unless you intend it remain there.”

  For a time, Paul Marcinkus had been one of the most powerful men in the Church. He had spent his life in the public spotlight and had relished attention. Yet, for the last fifteen years of his life, he lived in seclusion in Sun City Arizona. I asked him why?

  He told me why. Something I will not tell you.

  That was the last I heard from him.

  The following day, I searched the library microfilm for notice of the ‘accidental’ death of the valet’s brother. I ran into another twist of fate. The thirty year old had fallen from his sixth floor balcony in Arezzo south of Florence. By coincidence, Opus Dei member and Grandmaster of P2, Licio Gelli, had his villa in Arezzo.

  Finally, a light went on ‘upstairs.’ It had not been John Paul’s brother ‘Edoardo Luciani’ Jack had referred to in his note, “His brother Edoardo. It was not an accident. It was murder.” It had been the valet’s brother, ‘Edoardo Calo,’ Jack had referred to.

  The murder of Paul Marcinkus

  In June 2005, members of the Sicilian Mafia were brought to trial in Rome for the murder of Roberto Calvi.1 Early in February 2006, the Rome court filed papers in a United States federal court in Phoenix intending to extradite Paul Marcinkus.2

  Marcinkus’ testimony would be damaging not only to defendants in the trial but more so to P2 and Opus Dei who many believe had lured Calvi to London on the guise of a loan to get him out of his predicament and murdered him. Yet, that an extradition would be successful was questionable as Marcinkus had immunity from Italian courts granted by John Paul II and protected by the Lateran Treaty.

  On February 21, 2006, the Archdiocese of Phoenix reported Marcinkus had been found dead in his home. A sealed casket sat upon the altar in St. Clement of Rome Church in Sun City Arizona. Though pestered repeatedly by reporters, the Archdiocese refused to disclose the cause of death. Cause of death remains unknown.3

  In 1984, David Yallop published In God’s Name in which he incriminates Marcinkus in the murder of John Paul. He did such a riveting job most of those who have written of this subject since have incorporated his thesis into their work—Marcinkus was part of a conspiracy to murder John Paul because the audit the pope ordered would have uncovered Marcinkus’ role in what eventually exploded in the press as The Great Vatican Bank Scandal.

  As we shall see in what is yet to come, the Vatican bank scandal did have much to do with the Pope’s demise. Yet, the conspiracy to murder the Pope involved much more than just the bank scandal.

  As we shall see, the results of the audit of the bank ordered by John Paul did not incriminate Marcinkus, it vindicated him. Up to the time of the audit, the ‘shady deals’ he had been involved in under Paul VI had been not much more than good business. Yet, one might take some exception to affairs like the IOR guarantee of Sindona’s acquisition of the Franklin National Bank which money ended up in Somoza’s pocket regardless of Richard Nixon involvement.

  Regardless, it was the ‘shady deals’ he was about to be involved in under John Paul II which would bring him down.

  Knowing he had done nothing wrong up to that time, John Paul’s audit would have brought an end to the rumors he was engulfed in at the time. Something one knows, in retrospect today, it did do.

  What’s more, Marcinkus was a liberal and a supporter of the emerging social revolution. From an ideological point of view he would have welcomed John Paul’s papacy. Yet, as an American capitalist of the first rank he would have had serious concerns about the new Pope’s war on poverty and how he was going about it.

  That he played a major role in carrying out the bank scandal is a historical fact. Whether or not he was involved in the plot which led to the scandal is up for grabs. The events—which we are about to disclose—would acquit him on grounds of more than reasonable doubt in any court of law if charged with the bank scandal murders.

  It is my judgment he got caught up in the surreptitious dealings which led to the scandal because of the position he held and the rising threat of communism in Europe and Central America and felt it his duty to squelch the fire. This is demonstrated by his guarantee of the Franklin Nation Bank deal years before which money went to curb the revolution of the poor—communism—in Central America.

  1 La Repubblica 6 Oct 05

  2 The Arizona Republic 9 Feb 06

  3 Sun City Daily News 21 Feb 06

  Chapter 30

  The Swiss Guard Murders

  “The Pope’s Conscience”

  Alois Estermann, The Swiss Guard

  Regardless, the Marcinkus encounter left me with two thoughts.

  One that has much to do with what we are talking about here. Members of P2 concealed themselves in the valet’s rooms the night of the murder. Tried criminal cases tell us P2 had an arsenal of professionally trained killers some of them living in the Vatican.

  This eliminates other groups including the Mafia were known to have had no professional hit men in the Vatican at the time.

  David Yallop’s In God’s Name—concludes P2 killed John Paul. Murder in the Vatican takes no exception. This does not tell us who called the shot—just who pulled the trigger.

  The other thought is no more than conjecture on my part and may or may not have had anything to do with what we are talking about he
re. Yet, no book dealing with Murder in the Vatican would be complete without it. Could the rookie guard assigned to protect John Paul at the moment of his death have been Alois Estermann?

  Who is Alois Estermann?

  Alois Estermann was a young officer in the Swiss Army who served his apprenticeship with the Vatican police in the fall of 1978 and later joined the Swiss Guard under the reign of John Paul II. He would rise rapidly through its ranks to the very top.

  In the mid-1970s, Alois had enlisted in the Swiss Army. At about the same time, he became a member of Opus Dei, the clandestine cult which was at the time financing Karol Wojtyla’s rise to power.

  Though officers in the Swiss Army are fluent in French, German and Italian, Estermann was also fluent in Scandinavian and Eastern European languages. It was that he was a linguist that made possible his rise to the pinnacle of his profession.

  His ability to speak Polish led to assignments in both Warsaw and Krakow. It could have been at that time he made the acquaintance of Karol Wojtyla. We don’t know this to be a fact, but we do know he spent much of 1977 in Krakow. It may have been through his membership in Opus Dei Estermann gained the acquaintance of the Archbishop of Krakow—again, possible, but not known to be a fact.

  What is known is that he was a twenty-three year old officer in the Swiss Army serving an apprenticeship with the Vatican police in the fall of 1978. There is no record the Archbishop of Krakow used his influence to get Alois this assignment at this particular time.

  Also, it is not known if Estermann was the guard assigned to the post closest to John Paul the night of his death. Even if this is true—Estermann had been that guard—it does not necessarily mean he played a role in the Pope’s death.

  Yet, from the time of Wojtyla’s election in 1978 through the end of 1979, Alois was involved in laundering drafts and documents through Scandinavian banks to Eastern Europe, rumored—not proved—to have been linked to The Great Vatican Bank Scandal.4

  The following year, Estermann was inducted into the Swiss Guard as the personal bodyguard of John Paul II. In the picture to the right, Estermann is the young man at top center cradling the wounded pontiff in the 1981 assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square.

  Alois quickly became the closest confidant in the Pope’s life, so much so, he was nicknamed in the Swiss Guard as “The Pope’s Conscience.” The relationship of Estermann and John Paul II was welded together during the years he served as the Pope’s personal bodyguard, sharing rooms on trips to scores of countries and dozens of ski lodges. After, the assassination attempt on the Pope’s life, security measures required John Paul Il’s personal bodyguard share his rooms whenever and wherever he traveled.

  While still in his twenties, Estermann married a woman in her thirties, also a member of Opus Dei. In fifteen years they had no children which gave rise to rumors of homosexuality; the marriage had been one of convenience.

  In 1989, Estermann was promoted to Deputy Commander and assumed operational command of the Swiss Guard. He was 34, the youngest to ever hold the position.1

  Cedric Tornay

  In 1995, young attractive Cedric Tornay came into his life. Rumors of an affair surfaced when Tornay became a regular visitor at the Estermann apartment and Estermann made Tornay a noncommissioned officer ahead of others in line. The embers of rumor were further stoked by an incident that took place in February 1998.

  Swiss Guards, when not on duty are permitted to go out on the town (Rome) but are required to return to the barracks by twelve midnight. Not to return by midnight normally meant a guard met someone in a bar and slept over. Before Estermann took operational command, guards were severely reprimanded for breaking curfew. Estermann did away with the practice and it is largely for this reason he was so well liked by the rank and file guards.

  On the evening of February 25, 1998 Tornay broke curfew—slept over in Rome. Estermann issued an official reprimand. It was this action that locked in rumors of a personal relationship between the two; Estermann was enraged Tornay had cheated on him.

  Swiss Guards are recruited between the ages of 19 and 25. They must be Swiss citizens of the Aryan race and have completed basic training in the Swiss Army and cannot be born out-of-wedlock. A few, like Estermann, aspire to be career guards while most, like Tornay, intend to complete a three-year tour and leave to seek other employment; the experience is attractive to employers. In addition to the reprimand, it was rumored Estermann threatened to withhold the Benemeriti Medal awarded for honorable service to Tornay.

  Regardless, a short time before, the commander position in the Guard had opened up. According to Swiss Guard code an absolute prerequisite for the job is nobility and Estermann had been born into a working class family. Cardinal Secretary of State Sodano, to whom the Guard reported, conducted a six month search for a replacement finally narrowing his choice to a Swiss Army colonel.

  Before Sodano could make his move, on May 4, 1998, John Paul II, set aside the code, and elevated Alois Estermann to Commander of the Swiss Guard. Sodano was infuriated with the Pope’s action. Yet, there was much greater alarm concerning Estermann than was simply his role in protecting the Pope.

  Marcus Wolf, Deputy Commander of Stasi—the East Germany communist organization—attests Estermann had been a Stasi agent for years.2 While a Stasi agent, Estermann had emerged more than just ‘The Pope’s Conscience.’ Estermann had become the Pope’s chief advisor, particularly concerning humane issues.

  Curia cardinals viewed Estermann as taking advantage of John Paul’s growing senility, particularly as it concerned matters of the poor. There was a growing danger Stasi’s communist ideology would find its way into canon law. Estermann was not only a concern within the Vatican. He was equally a concern of the CIA across the pond in McLean Virginia. The anti-communist pope, it had put into the job twenty years before, was growing, as each day passed, more and more compassionate for the poor.

  The Murders of Alois Estermann and Cedric Tornay

  La Repubblica 5 May 98 “Estermann, who had been appointed yesterday as Commander of the Swiss Guard, was found dead in his apartment after neighbors investigated a loud dispute. The bodies of Mrs. Estermann and Cedric Tornay were found on the floor. All three had died of gunshot wounds …According to Vatican sources Tornay’s body was found sprawled atop his service weapon, a 9mm service pistol. Six shots had been fired. Tornay’s pistol was found empty. No other weapon was found at the scene.”3

  On hearing the news, a nun who cared for the papal household told a reporter, “I can’t imagine there was anyone in the Pope’s life dearer than Alois; he looked at him as his own son. John Paul was a regular visitor in the Estermann apartment next door to the Palace. His Holiness was devastated when he heard the news.”4

  A few years later upon John Paul II’s death, another nun told the press, “It was after Alois was murdered John Paul’s health spiraled downward. Up until then, the Holy Father had shown some senility but was in excellent health. One of the most terrible things that can befall one is to lose one’s offspring. It was solely the Holy Father’s conviction in the afterlife that got him through that difficult time.”5

  The apparent murder-suicide came two days before the annual assembly of the Swiss Guard in the San Damasus Courtyard. A few hours before the murders—the Vatican reported—Tornay had given a colleague a suicide letter he asked to have forwarded to his mother.

  Subsequent investigation revealed Tornay had not given the letter to anyone as no one could be found to validate the claim. Also, she received the letter by mail. Most anyone could have mailed it.

  In 2005, Tornay’s mother, in the interest of clearing her son’s name, brought the case to trial in a Swiss court. She presented the court with handwriting analysis and a mountain of other evidence proving the letter had not been written by her son.6

  It is not unusual that Tornay’s service weapon was found at the scene as all members of the Swiss Guard are required to keep their pistol fully loaded and on t
heir person at all times. Should they leave the Vatican grounds, they check weapons at the gate, unless they are on duty in Rome.

  What was unusual is that Estermann’s pistol was not found at the scene; he, too, was required to keep his pistol perpetually in his presence. Estermann had at least two pistols—the standard issue SIG Sauer 9mm pistol as did Tornay and a ceremonial pistol, a Swiss Army SIG 49 6mm weapon, an auxiliary issue for ranking officers of the Swiss Guard.7 Neither weapon was found in the apartment.

  The report that six shots had been fired and the gun was empty evidently came from a novice who assumed all handguns—like most revolvers—hold six bullets. However, the cartridge in a Swiss Army SIG 49 9mm pistol holds nine (9) 9mm shells. Nine shots had to have been fired or the gun could not have been empty.

  Tornay’s mother presented the Swiss court with results of an autopsy which proved among other things the exit wound in the skull was 7mm; it could not have been caused by a 9mm pistol.9 Since an exit wound is slightly larger than an entrance wound, it was most likely caused by a 6mm pistol. Also, Tornay’s two front teeth had been knocked out, as if someone had shoved the gun into his mouth. He would not have broken his teeth if he had shot himself.

  Swiss Guards found blood in the unpaved cellar of an adjoining building. This raised speculation Tornay had been killed in the cellar and his body planted in the Estermann apartment to stage the murder-suicide. 8

  The woman who lived upstairs heard the commotion and came down to investigate. She found the Estermanns in pools of blood and checking for pulse found them warm to the touch.

  She turned her attention to Tornay who lying face down with no blood visible, she thought he was still alive. Yet, when she turned him over his mouth was caked with dried blood and the front of his clothes covered with dirt. Having just felt the Estermanns pulse, she was surprised Tornay was cold to the touch.11 She also told the guards she had heard as many as a dozen shots.