Alois Estermann
Encyclopedia
Alois Estermann was a senior officer of the Swiss Guard
who was murdered in his apartment in the Vatican City
.
Estermann was born in Gunzwil
, in the Canton of Lucerne
. In 1998 he was appointed as Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.
According to official Vatican statements, Estermann and his Venezuelan wife, Gladys Meza Romero, were killed in May 1998 by a young Swiss Guard Cédric Tornay, who later committed suicide. Estermann, formerly acting commander of the Swiss Guard, had been confirmed in his position the same day. Tornay had earlier been reprimanded for breaches of discipline and had been passed over for a medal routinely awarded to Guards after three years of service.
Pope John Paul II personally celebrated Estermann's Funeral Mass in the church of Saints Martin and Sebastian
.
The homicide has led to theories as to why the murder happened.
Swiss Guard
Swiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
who was murdered in his apartment in the Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
.
Estermann was born in Gunzwil
Gunzwil
Gunzwil was a municipality within the district of Sursee, in the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the municipality of Beromünster, becoming a village inside the new municipality of Beromünster.-History:...
, in the Canton of Lucerne
Canton of Lucerne
Lucerne is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the centre of Switzerland. The population of the canton is . , the population included 57,268 foreigners, or about 15.8% of the total population. The cantonal capital is Lucerne.-History:...
. In 1998 he was appointed as Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.
According to official Vatican statements, Estermann and his Venezuelan wife, Gladys Meza Romero, were killed in May 1998 by a young Swiss Guard Cédric Tornay, who later committed suicide. Estermann, formerly acting commander of the Swiss Guard, had been confirmed in his position the same day. Tornay had earlier been reprimanded for breaches of discipline and had been passed over for a medal routinely awarded to Guards after three years of service.
Pope John Paul II personally celebrated Estermann's Funeral Mass in the church of Saints Martin and Sebastian
Saints Martin and Sebastian of the Swiss
The Church of Saints Martin and Sebastian of the Swiss is a Roman Catholic oratory in the Vatican city. The church was built by Pope Pius V in 1568 to serve as private chapel for the Pontifical Swiss Guards, whose barracks are located next to Porta San Pellegrino, close to the Apostolic Palace...
.
Theories concerning his death
- According to the book L'Agent secret du Vatican (2004), by journalist Victor Guitard, Markus WolfMarkus WolfMarkus Johannes "Mischa" Wolf was head of the General Intelligence Administration , the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security . He was the MfS's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War...
, former No. 2 of the East German secret police StasiStasiThe Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
, declared that Estermann had been a Stasi agent since 1979.
- According to a piece edited by Fabio Croce, the three were all murdered by a Vatican killer, due to Estermann's deep knowledge of the small state's trafficks. According to the book Poteri forti by Ferruccio Pinotti, Estermann in 1981 repeatedly travelled to Poland to coordinate the arrival of unknown material from Scandinavia to support the Polish anti-communist organization Solidarnosc.
- The text Bugie di sangue in Vaticano (1999), written by "a group of Vatican ecclesiastics and lays who cannot continue to avail, with their silence, official truth told by the Vatican", supports the hypothesis that Estermann was the Pope's personal guard, and that he was killed in the course of a supposed struggle between the Opus DeiOpus DeiOpus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
and masonic partiesContinental FreemasonryContinental Freemasonry refers to those Masonic lodges, mainly on the continent of Europe, that recognise the Grand Orient de France or belong to CLIPSAS or SIMPA.-The two branches of Freemasonry:Today, Freemasonry...
within the Vatican hierarchy, both attempting to annex the Swiss guard.
- The British journalist, John Follain, undertook extensive interviews with key witnesses to the murders to inform his book, City of Secrets: The Truth behind the murders at the Vatican (2006). Follain dismisses speculation that Estermann, his wife, and Tornay were murdered by an external fourth party or that Estermann was a spy for the former East German government. Follain's research indicated that Cédric Tornay did indeed kill his commander, and his commander's wife before turning the gun on himself. Tornay found the running of the Swiss GuardSwiss GuardSwiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
archaic, and resented the dominance of the Swiss German majority contingent. Tornay turned to Alois Estermann for affection, and enjoyed a short homosexual affair. Their relationship deteriorated into acrimony as Tornay realised that Estermann had betrayed him with another guard. Estermann's close links to the Opus DeiOpus DeiOpus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
movement, and his final refusal to award the benemeriti medalBenemerenti MedalThe Benemerenti medal was first awarded by Pope Pius VI to recognize military merit. In 1831 under Pope Gregory XVI a special Benemerenti medal was struck to reward thos who fought courageously in the papal army at Ferrara, Bologna, and Vienna...
for 3-years service led to further frustration and Tornay's ultimate decision to kill Estermann.