The Vatican moved quickly yesterday to deny German newspaper speculation that Alois Estermann, the Swiss Guard commander slain in a triple killing on Monday night, had functioned as a one-time spy for the former East Germany. Responding to a report in yesterday's Berlin tabloid Berliner Kurier claiming that Estermann had worked for the Stasi, the infamous East German secret police, the senior Vatican spokesman, Dr Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said: "Here in the Vatican we're not even considering such a hypothesis. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that lies have been written about an honest man."
In a tragedy that profoundly shocked the Holy See, Estermann and his wife were killed by a Swiss Guard vice-corporal, Cedric Tornay (23), on Monday night in a crime allegedly prompted by bitter grievances. Having killed both the Estermanns, Tornay then shot himself.
Italian dailies yesterday carried extracts from a letter written by the young corporal to his parents just hours before the killings, a letter which appears to confirm the Vatican's claim that the killings were motivated by resentment towards Estermann, who had been appointed head of the Swiss Guard on the day he was killed.
"After three years, six months and three days, they haven't given me the [good service] medal, so I've just got to stop other injustices. . . That which I am about to do, I'm forced to do for the good of the Corps [Swiss Guard]," the corporal wrote.
No sooner had the widespread speculation about sexual or love-triangle motivations for the killings been apparently dismissed when the Vatican found itself dealing with other unwelcome "scoops" yesterday. The Berliner Kurier claims that Estermann worked for the Stasi between 1979 and 1984, during which time he filed at least seven extensive reports to the Stasi under the codename of "Werder". The reports were filed via a postbox on the Rome-Innsbruck night train and then picked up by Stasi operatives based in Austria.
The paper goes on to speculate that the commander's major motivation was money.