ROME -- When the Vatican last week closed its investigation into the killing of the commander of the Swiss Guards by one of his junior officers, it hoped the concluding report would finally set the scandal to rest.
It didn't. Wednesday, the grieving relatives of the slain Swiss Guard commander, Lt. Col. Alois Estermann, and his wife, Gladys Meza Romero, who was killed at his side, issued a four-page letter addressed to journalists and distributed by the Vatican press office.The letter sought to shame the Italian press and implored the media to stop printing rumors about the couple's marriage. But it is likely instead to draw still more attention to the case.
The letter rejected recent media reports that were prompted primarily by coverage of a new book -- "God's Word, Gay Word" -- about a love affair of a senior officer in the Swiss Guards and one of his subalterns that was inspired by the case of Estermann, 43, and the corporal, Cedric Tornay, 23, who shot Esterman and Esterman's wife, then killed himself.
Since the killings nine months ago, the Vatican has tried hard to dispel rumors that they were a crime of passion or the result of some other scandal.
In their final report last week, Vatican investigators said Tornay carried out the killings when he became disgruntled after being passed over for a decoration. They also said that traces of cannabis had been found in Tornay's urine, as well as a cyst the size of a pigeon egg in his brain that could have impaired his judgment.
But at the presentation of the new book, the author, Massimo Lacchei, told reporters that a year before the murders he had attended a private brunch at the home of an elderly and important gay politician, where Estermann and Tornay were also guests. He said they were lovers and said he had doubts about the Vatican version of events.
Instantly, Italian newspapers and other publications published stories about the theory that Estermann and Tornay were gay lovers.