Pontiff Mourns Shooting Victims

Pope John Paul II prayed before the bodies of his slain Swiss Guard commander, the commander’s wife and the guardsman who shot them, saying the killer now faces “God’s judgment.” Later, at St. Peter’s Basilica, the slain couple were commemorated at a funeral led by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state and the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official after the pope. Hours after the pope on Monday appointed Alois Estermann, 43, commander of the elite little army, Estermann and his wife, 49-year-old Gladys Meza Romero, were killed in their Vatican apartment by Cedric Tornay. The 23-year-old guardsman then shot himself in the mouth in what the Vatican called a “fit of madness” over a reprimand and a lack of recognition. A funeral Mass for Tornay was scheduled today at the Swiss Guards’ chapel.