Thirty-four new members of the Swiss Vatican Guard have been sworn in in St Peter’s Square.
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New guards enter service every year on May 6 and a mass also takes place in memory of the 147 Swiss Guards who died in 1527 defending Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome.
The Swiss Vatican Guard, which is known as the smallest army in the world, comprises 110 men. It reports to the Pope and is financed by the Vatican.
The Vatican City gendarmerie, under the orders of the Vatican, is also responsible for the Pope’s security and law and order matters, as are the Italian police outside the Vatican City walls.
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Visitors to the Vatican can see the Pope’s soldiers guarding various entrances carrying their halberds, a sort of combined spear and battleaxe. The guards also carry out plainclothes security duties around the Pope whenever he moves in public. Members of the Swiss Guard are trained in self-defence and the use of firearms. (Photos by Monika…
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The papal Swiss Guard tradition has been marching on since 1506 – making it the oldest, continually active military corps in history. To mark the 500th anniversary of the force’s existence, about 70 former Swiss Guards followed in the footsteps of the troops who established the corps, arriving in Rome in the first week of…
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