Leuthard to have private audience with pope
Swiss President Doris Leuthard is due to meet the pope on a visit to the Vatican to mark the swearing in of new recruits to the pontiff’s Swiss Guard.
During the visit on May 6 she will have a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI and meet the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to discuss current affairs.
New guardsmen are sworn in every year in May in St Peter’s Square. A mass also takes place that day in memory of 147 Swiss Guards who died in 1527 defending Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome.
Around 3,500 people, including officials plus parents and friends of the Swiss papal guards, will be present at the ceremony, at which 30 new guards and one officer will be sworn in.
The recruits have already begun their service over the past 12 months.
The Swiss Vatican Guard was founded more than 500 years ago. It is known as the smallest army in the world and comprises 110 men. It reports to the pope and is financed by the Vatican.
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