Thursday, December 13, 2007

The Swiss Guards

If you will, go to the St. Peter's Basilica, you will see some guards who are usually tall, with good body built and wearing a costume-like uniform. They are the Swiss guards. They are truly Swiss! It is interesting that the Vatican has Swiss Guards to have the responsibility of protecting the pope. The story was that there was a time when the Vatican was under siege from German soldiers. The pope decided to hire some soldiers who will defend the state. The Swiss soldiers agreed to do the job. They were able to resist the attack and they gained the respect of the pope by their bravery, loyalty, skill, and even readiness to offer their lives in defense of the state. Since then, owing to what they had done, the Vatican had been hiring the services of these trained men to protect the pope.
The Vatican is however not independent of the carabinieri (The Italian Police Force) of the Italian government. Any crime or police matters are turned over to the Italian police. While the protection of the pope is the primary responsibility of the Swiss guards, the government police assist and facilitate all police matters in and out of he Vatican.
In order to have a regular supply of guards, the Swiss government recruits and accepts applications of their citizen to be trained and become full pledge Swiss guards. Incidentally, all Swiss guards must be Catholics!
I find this strange and unique but not unreasonable. Tradition and experience really count a lot spcially in matters of extreme importance as the protection of the pope, the recognized leader of the Catholic Church. The professionalism involved in the set up is really something to be admired. But essentially, it is about trust and faith to both fellow human being and God.

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