Nexus - 1805 - New Times Magazine-pages

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The anonymous authors claim that Estermann was the victim of a struggle for control of the Swiss Guard between the secretive, traditionalist Catholic movement Opus Dei and a Masonic power faction ensconced in the Curia. This "Masonic power" should be read as the likes of P2—Propaganda Due—while the plot of the book seems to have been taken out of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. Indeed, it seems that Estermann's murder may have been worked into Angels & Demons. "In the Vatican, there are those who maintain that vice-corporal Tornay was attacked after coming off duty and dragged into a cellar,” it is argued in Blood Lies in the Vatican (http://tinyurl.com/5t9kowz). Tornay was then "suicided" with a silenced 7-mm pistol, and his duty revolver was used to kill the Estermanns in their Vatican apartment. Following that, Tornay's body was dumped in their flat so that the triple killing would look like murder-suicide. Furthermore, the evening following the murders, Cardinal Alfons Stickler described Tornay as "an individual suffering from the psychological disorder of paranoia" (Follain, 2003, p. 17)—another intriguing diagnosis from someone who had never met Tornay and was not qualified to reach such a diagnosis. eC Se rt ee Demons. Indeed, it seems that Estermann's murder may _ The Doctored Official Report have been worked into Angels & Demons. Interestingly, according to the official report (Bollettino "In the Vatican, there are those who maintain that 55/99), the "fit of madness" had physical rather than vice-corporal Tornay was attacked after coming off duty purely psychological reasons, which means that and dragged into a cellar,” it is argued in Blood Lies in the Navarro-Valls's conclusion is wrong as no autopsy had Vatican (http://tinyurl.com/5t9kowz). Tornay was then _ been performed at the time of his statement. The report "suicided" with a silenced 7-mm pistol, and his duty _ mentions traces of a cannabis metabolite present in the revolver was used to kill the Estermanns in their Vatican —_ urine, though not in the blood. However, the amount apartment. Following that, Tornay's body was dumped __ itself was far too small to indicate cannabis addiction. in their flat so that the triple killing would look like | Furthermore, cannabis is known to calm aggressive murder-suicide. impulses, not to provoke them. So rather than clear As to a motive, it is alleged in the book that both — anything up, the report poses more questions. Estermann and his wife, who The pathologists also worked at the Venezuelan exaggerated the significance of a Embassy to the Holy See, were benign tumour in Tornay's brain. engaged in secret internationa iti inci They had found a “benign inancial deals for the benefit o! Is It Just a coincidence subarachnoid cyst", 4.0 by 2.5 Opus Dei. It is also alleged tha’ that nine hours after the centimetres, which had he power vacuum at the head announcement of the “depressed and deformed the of the Swiss Guard had been . 0 . anterior part of the left frontal because of opposition to Vatican S choice, the new cerebral lobe, partially eroding Estermann's appointment. Is i just a coincidence that nine ours after the announcemen the bone". Though most experts agree that this would have had no effect at all on Tornay's of the Vatican's choice, the new behaviour, the pathologists commander was dead? argued that it "was responsible That the Vatican went into a protective mode _ for impairment of cognitive [thought] function...and... immediately after the discovery of the bodies is a fact. It disinhibition of behaviour’. However, during a second is also a fact that the "murder-suicide" scenario in "a autopsy that would later be performed in Switzerland, it moment of madness" is a conclusion reached within was shown that no such tumour was present in Tornay's hours of the crime—though, it has to be said, the crime brain at all—suggesting, once again, that the Vatican's scene definitely suggested the likelihood of this scenario. _ official version of the events is seriously flawed, if not But Blood Lies in the Vatican underlines that the official doctored, if not a total lie. scenario was offered by the Vatican spokesman Joaquin It was left to Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo avarro-Valls, MD, himself a member of Opus Dei. Sodano to perform the Requiem Mass for Estermann Within minutes of the murder, Dr Navarro-Valls had and his wife at St Peter's Basilica. That in itself was a sealed the Estermanns's apartment. No one—including rare honour for laypeople. At the same time, on the the Italian police—was allowed near the crime scene. _ border of Vatican City in the small Church of St Anne, a Within three hours and before any autopsies were __ private funeral mass was said for Cédric Tornay. Inside, conducted, Navarro-Valls had issued the statement that a Swiss Guard line allowed a gap for the space where a "fit of madness" made Tornay commit a double murder —_ Tornay usually stood. (John Follain, City of Secrets: The Truth Behind the Murders at the Vatican, William Morrow, 2003, pp. 14-15). Autopsies | The Second Autopsy and a Forged Suicide Letter were performed the next day by Vatican doctors, who Since his death, Tornay's mother, Muguette Baudat, were sworn to secrecy and kept no written reports of _ has frequently expressed her dissatisfaction with the their conclusions, thus largely defeating the purpose of | way the Vatican has handled the case. She does not the autopsies. accept the official scenario. Baudat, herself a People have queried how Navarro-Valls was able to Protestant, was told immediately after her son's death discern so quickly that Tornay, a man he had never met, _ that his body was rotting, that his head had been ripped had performed this act in a fit of madness. _ off, and that all the hotels in Rome were full so she commander was dead? Is it just a coincidence that nine hours after the The Second Autopsy and a Forged Suicide Letter Since his death, Tornay's mother, Muguette Baudat, has frequently expressed her dissatisfaction with the way the Vatican has handled the case. She does not accept the official scenario. Baudat, herself a Protestant, was told immediately after her son's death that his body was rotting, that his head had been ripped off, and that all the hotels in Rome were full so she 54 * NEXUS announcement of the Vatican’s choice, the new commander was dead? AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2011 www.nexusmagazine.com