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| Cedric Tornay - Murderer or Hierarchy Scapegoat? |
Warning: This a not a conspiracy theory but it is, as I
favor things in studying history, a timeline thing that may or may shed some
light on a chain of events on that timeline, events that may or may not be as
they officially seem.
Yet there are whispers that even timid Justin Rigali may have gotten into a bit of hot water in Rome. He was working as secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, which is the number two position in the second-most important congregation in the Vatican; that congregation recommends candidates for bishop.
The secretary almost always serves at least five years. But Rigali was moved out after four years and one month—that’s when he was sent to St. Louis, to oversee the archdiocese there. One theory has it that Rigali may have gotten too aggressive in pushing his choices for bishops—that he might have, in other words, crossed someone in the Vatican with enough power to undermine his career.
There are also repeated, though unsubstantiated, rumors—ones cited by several Vatican or Rigali observers I spoke to—that there might have been another reason he left Rome. While at the Vatican, Rigali became chaplain for the Swiss Guards, the ex-military guys, young and unmarried, who provide security there. Uncharacteristic of a man dedicated to carefully building a Vatican career, Rigali befriended them, drank with them, and was involved with them to an extent that appeared unseemly to many. “Princes of the Church do not drink with the hired help,” one longtime Vatican observer says. (The archdiocese also said it will not dignify questions about Rigali and the Swiss Guards with a response.)
In 1999, in frail health
and on his way home from Mexico, Pope John Paul II would make an unprecedented
stop in St. Louis to see his long-time Vatican worker bee. It seemed to be a
clear message: You are still one of us.
The cardinal, now
76, appears to want to get back to Rome—where his gray presence is suited for
behind-the-scenes work. “He runs off to Rome every two weeks,” says a local
priest who worked in the archdiocese’s office and got to know Rigali when both
of them were at the Vatican two decades ago. “His work there is more important
to him than here—it’s a terrible thing for the parishioners and clergy.” Many
observers believe that the Vatican will soon find someone new to run the
Philadelphia archdiocese.
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| Clinton, JPII, Rigali, St. Louis January 1999 |
St. Louis' Archbishop Justin Rigali announced the visit
(John Paul II) to the St. Louis media on Thursday, April 22, 1998.
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| Cedric Tornay, Gladys Meza (Estermann), Alois Estermann |
A murder-suicide (May 4,1998) involving
the Swiss Guard that rocked the Vatican in a mystery worthy of a Dan Brown
thriller is back in the spotlight after Pope Benedict XVI was asked to
intervene and reopen the case.
Swiss Guard Cedric Tornay, 23, shot dead the famous unit's
commanding officer Alois Estermann, 43, and his wife Gladys Meza before turning
the gun on himself - allegedly in a fit of rage after being overlooked for
promotion.
Within hours of the triple deaths in 1998 - the first violent
deaths on Vatican soil in decades - officials closed the case saying it was a
simple case of corporal Tornay having gone mad after being given medication for
a brain tumour.
…Mr Brossellett added that he had found
'inconsistencies' in the official autopsy report provided by the Vatican after
they had a second one carried out in Lausanne when the body was returned to his
native Switzerland.
…He said:'Our autopsy showed that Cedric Tornay was turned at the
time of the shot but the Vatican one said he was on his knees and facing
forward. So their reconstruction is wrong.'
Mr Brossellett also said that
they had discovered the night of the murders a friend of Estermann's had called
his apartment and had heard 'bangs and shouting' and that he thought four
people were in the house at the time of the killings.
Mrs Baudat said:'As far as I am concerned the original
investigation is full of lies and contradictions and was carried out at such a
speed so as to hide the real truth. It was a murder carried out to get
Estermann out of the way and then helpfully blame it on a dead madman.'
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(No doubt when Cardinal Law dropped the ball in Boston in 2002 and
the bigger picture of institutional abuse and cover up became apparent
nationwide, John Paul II was eager to appoint a loyal soldier, Rigali, who may
have owed JPII a Vatican favor or two or three (?), to keep a lid on
the Krol/Bevilacqua abuse cover-ups in Philly.
While John Paul II owed little to Bevilacqua, he owed his very papacy
directly to John Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia.)
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| John Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia - King Maker |
Now we have the Monsignor Lynn
Child Endangerment trial going on currently in Philadelphia. Etc. One thing
follows another?
So it goes.
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