New Swiss Guard recruits arrive in Rome to complete basic training

January 7, 2021 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Vatican City, Jan 7, 2021 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Fifteen new Swiss Guard recruits have arrived in Rome to complete their basic training.

The recruits for the world’s oldest standing army — having already completed required military training in Switzerland — will now spend the next two months at the Vatican preparing for their duty to protect the pope and the Apostolic Palace.

“It is a pleasure for us to be able to welcome 15 new recruits from Switzerland,” Swiss Guard spokesman Sgt. Urs Breitenmoser said in a statement published Jan. 6.

“With nine German-speaking, four French-speaking and two Italian-speaking recruits, we reach an effective total of 134 men,” he said.

The Vatican approved an expansion of the size of the Pontifical Swiss Guards three years ago from 110 to 135 men. Despite the new recruits, it still remains the smallest army in the world.

Candidates for the Pontifical Swiss Guard are required to meet strict requirements. Each recruit must be a Catholic unmarried male at least 5 feet, 8 inches tall and between the ages of 19 and 30. Swiss citizenship is required, as is a letter of good standing from the candidate’s parish priest.

The Vatican military was established by Pope Julius II in 1506 and is charged with serving and protecting the pope, which new recruits vow to do, even “sacrificing if necessary also my life.”

Swiss Guards — known for their colorful striped Renaissance-era uniforms — are responsible for Vatican security together with the Vatican gendarmes.

The guards’ barracks are located on the eastern edge of Vatican City State beside the Apostolic Palace. Fundraising is currently underway for the barracks’ renovation.

The culmination of the new recruits’ training will be a swearing-in ceremony on May 6 — a date which marks the anniversary of the Sack of Rome, the 1527 battle in which 147 Swiss Guards lost their lives defending Pope Clement VII from mutinous troops of the Holy Roman Empire.

This ceremony was postponed until October last year due to the coronavirus pandemic in which at least 13 members of the Swiss Guard tested positive for COVID-19.

Each new recruit was tested for COVID-19 upon arrival in Italy and will be eligible to receive the vaccine being distributed in Vatican City beginning this month.

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Logos for Pope Francis’ trip to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan unveiled

March 23, 2022 Catholic News Agency 0
Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 23, 2018. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Vatican City, Mar 23, 2022 / 07:10 am (CNA).

The Vatican has unveiled the logos and mottos for Pope Francis’ July trip to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In South Sudan, where Francis will travel from July 5-7, the motto comes from John 17: “I pray that all may be one.”

The logo for Pope Francis’ July 5-7 trip to South Sudan. Vatican Media.
The logo for Pope Francis’ July 5-7 trip to South Sudan. Vatican Media.

The logo depicts a dove carrying an olive branch flying above the outline of South Sudan colored like the country’s flag. The design also includes a cross and two clasped hands.

According to the visit’s organizers, the clasped hands represent the reconciliation of the tribes making up the single nation, while the cross symbolizes South Sudan’s Christian heritage and its suffering.

The dove and olive branch point to the desire for peace in the country.

The motto of Pope Francis’ July 2-5 visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is “All Reconciled in Jesus Christ.” The logo includes a blue cross, the image of Pope Francis, a landscape of river, mountains, and a tree, and an okapi.

The logo for Pope Francis’ July 2-5 visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Vatican Media.
The logo for Pope Francis’ July 2-5 visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Vatican Media.

The okapi is a cross between a zebra and a giraffe, and the DRC is the only country where it is found in the wild. The okapi was included in the logo, according to organizers, to represent the wealth of the Congolese fauna.

Another important symbol in the image is a palm branch, which recalls the martyrdom rooted in the DRC’s history.

“The palm tree, expressing in fact victory, rebirth and immortality, refers to the message of hope that offers the visit of the Holy Father,” a press release said.

Organizers said the blue cross shows the devotion of the Congolese people for the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Congo, who “carries and sustains the prayers of the whole nation to Christ the Redeemer, our strength.”

Three abstract people in orange are under the blue cross as a symbol of fraternity, which can only be a gift of God, the press release said.

“The vibrant colors used here are intended to manifest the feeling and dynamism that characterizes the Congolese people, ready to welcome in joy and unity the Vicar of Christ and Successor of Peter.”

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