Pope Francis responded by rewriting Vatican penal law in 2019, explicitly criminalizing “the use of office to solicit sexual acts” and making it a “crime against the dignity of the person” – an unprecedented move. Vatican journalist Edward Pentin, a conservative, has long alleged that a network called “Sotto-Sopra” (Upside Down) – a homosexual network within the Curia – functions like a secret society. According to witnesses, some meetings occur in the Vatican itself, involving priests, lay officials, and occasionally guardsmen who are “discreet.”
One leaked memo, later confirmed by journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, mentioned an unnamed Swiss Guard officer who had been “pressured to resign” after an affair with a monsignor was discovered. That officer reportedly possessed compromising photographs of senior Vatican officials—including cardinals—in private apartments. The Guard was reassigned to Switzerland, and the matter was buried.
The real scandals—Estermann (1998), Vatileaks (2012), the Gloor allegations (2018), the Becciu trial (2023)—all carry the same DNA: power, secrecy, homosexuality, and the Swiss Guard. The keyword “gaybelamiscandalinthevatican2theswissguardpart new” does not lead to an official document. But it leads to a journalistic crime scene. The Vatican has never fully declassified the Estermann case. The 2020 Vatican “Decree on the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults” explicitly added “seminarians and religious novices” (which includes many guards) as protected persons. And whispers continue that a future “Part 3” will involve a current Swiss Guard officer testifying before a European court about coercion inside the Leonine walls. gaybelamiscandalinthevatican2theswissguardpart new
The official Vatican explanation: Tornay had been passed over for a decoration (the “Benemerenti” medal) and suffered from “psychological instability.” He killed Estermann and his wife in a fit of rage.
More explosively, in 2018, the Italian magazine L’Espresso published claims from former Swiss Guard officer . Gloor alleged that “a group of senior Vatican officials, including some close to the Pope, use their influence to recruit young guardsmen for sexual favors.” While Gloor later retracted some claims under Vatican threat of excommunication, he did not retract a specific statement: “The Swiss Guard commands two soldiers who were blackmailed after being filmed in private apartments of monsignors.” Pope Francis responded by rewriting Vatican penal law
This was Part 1 of what some Vatican insiders began calling “the lavender dossier” – a collection of evidence pointing to an influential homosexual network inside the Vatican, vulnerable to blackmail. No understanding of “Vatican + Swiss Guard + gay scandal” is complete without the 1998 triple murder . On May 4, 1998, newly appointed Commander of the Swiss Guard, Alois Estermann, 43, and his wife, Gladys Meza Romero, 30, were found shot dead in their Vatican apartment. The killer was 23-year-old Swiss Guard Corporal Cédric Tornay, who then killed himself.
But the unofficial story—published in the Italian press, later in The Times and Der Spiegel —was far darker. Numerous reports alleged that Estermann was in a long-term homosexual relationship with Tornay. According to this version, Tornay had become obsessed, jealous, or despondent when Estermann married a woman (Gladys, a Venezuelan national) just weeks earlier while continuing to see Tornay. Tornay had become obsessed
Does the Swiss Guard participate? Officially, no. The Guard’s motto is “Acriter et Fideliter” (With rigor and fidelity). Recruits must swear loyalty to the Pope and live by conservative Catholic sexual ethics. However, the average age of guards is 19-30. They live in cramped barracks, far from their Swiss families. Loneliness and stress are common.