Vatican City - A sad Pope John Paul yesterday thanked the murdered Swiss Guard chief who shielded him in a 1981 assassination attempt and said the assassin who killed the commandant and his wife would face God's judgment.
The Vatican, meanwhile, said autopsy results confirmed that Commandant Alois Estermann (43), and his Venezuelan wife, Gladys Meza Romero (49), were shot at close range by vice-corporal Cedric Tornay, who then shot himself. The Pope prayed before the three bodies, laid out in closed coffins in a Vatican church used by the Swiss Guards near their barracks.