With their feathered helmets, ruffled collars and coloured, puffed-sleeve uniforms, the Vatican Swiss Guards are often likened by curious visitors to medieval court jesters.
But appearances can be deceiving. The world’s smallest army, whose primary role is to protect the pope, has been rigorously trained and with no living pontiff to protect right now will join the huge security operation involving specialist Italian police units and the military given the task of keeping watch over Vatican City and Rome during the funeral of Pope Francis and the subsequent conclave.
A Swiss Guards spokesperson declined to be interviewed “because we are all very busy concentrating on this mission”. Behind the scenes, the 135-man army will have been fine-tuning the long-planned operation with well-choreographed trial runs in their barracks in the eastern part of Vatican City.
Dressed in their Renaissance-style traditional red, yellow and blue uniforms, their first task this week was to guard Pope Francis’s body when it was moved into a coffin in the chapel of his Casa Santa Marta home.
Holding traditional halberds, they stood guard as the open coffin was transferred through St Peter’s Square and into the 16th-century basilica, where Francis is lying in state until Friday evening. Two barely blinking guards are holding vigil by the body.
After the funeral mass, the army will be involved in the procession to transfer the coffin from the Vatican to Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood, where it will be buried in a tomb picked by Pope Francis.
With as many as 170 foreign delegations, including those of Donald Trump and Prince William, along with an estimated 200,000 pilgrims arriving in Rome, the Swiss Guards have an intense few days ahead of them.
They will be given the task of guarding the conclave, the secret ballot to elect a new pope that takes place in the Sistine Chapel, all the while maintaining their role of patrolling the borders of Vatican City.
The army has been enlisted at the Vatican since the early 16th century, when Swiss mercenaries, revered for their bravery and loyalty, marched to Rome to serve Pope Julius II.
In 2018, Pope Francis boosted its number from 110 to 135 after a series of terrorist attacks in France and elsewhere in Europe, and in preparation for this year’s Catholic jubilee.
The halberd is the guards’ traditional weapon, but the troops are trained to use small modern-day arms, including the recently introduced stun guns.
As for the job requirements: army recruits must be male, Swiss, aged between 19 and 30, taller than 5ft 8in (1.74 metres), unmarried and devoutly Catholic with “an unblemished character”.
