Armor like a knight on horseback. A helmet with bright-colored plumes sticking out. Wide blue and gold-striped pants that can seem almost clown-like. The Swiss Guard, the pope’s iconic bodyguards, ...

Vatican Swiss Guard recruits line up for their swearing-in ceremony, at the Vatican, Monday, May 6, 2024. The ceremony is held each May 6 to commemorate the day in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards died ...

While the Secret Service protects the U.S. president, the Swiss Guard protects the pope. So who are these men who march around St. Peter’s Square, donning multi-colored uniforms designed during the ...

Pope Francis received the Vatican’s Swiss Guard Corps on the occasion of the swearing-in of the new guards on May 6. After participating in a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, 34 new recruits and their ...