This morning the Holy Father Francis received in Audience, in the Apostolic Vatican Palace, the new Recruits of the Pontifical Swiss Guard accompanied by their parents. The new Recruits will take the oath this afternoon in the Courtyard of Saint Damasus.
“I very much appreciate your capacity to combine the professional and spiritual aspects, thus expressing your devotion and fidelity to the Apostolic See,” the Pope said in thanking the Swiss Guards for their service. “For their part, the pilgrims and tourists that come to Rome have the possibility to experience the courtesy and availability of the Guards at the various entrances of Vatican City. Never forget these qualities, which are a beautiful testimony and the sign of the Church’s welcome.”
Here is a translation of the Pope’s address to them in the course of the meeting.
* * *
The Holy Father’s Address
Dear Officers and Members of the Swiss Guard!
Dear Family Members!
On the occasion of the recruits’ oath-taking, I am happy to welcome you in the house of the Successor of Peter. I greet Colonel Christoph Graf, who leads the Swiss Guards Corps with great dedication; the Chaplain, the Officers, the Non-Commissioned Officers, and all the Corps’ members. I welcome the parents who unite themselves to this celebration. Their presence attests to the attachment of many Swiss Catholics to the Church and, in particular, to the See of Peter.
The places in which the new recruits are called to serve are charged with history. From the moment of the creation of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, many young men have carried out with commitment and fidelity the peculiar mission that the Corps continues to be engaged in today. Some reached the point of sacrificing their lives to defend the Pope.
As you well know, the Swiss Guards’ functions, while having a military character, constitute a special service to the Supreme Pontiff and to the Apostolic See for the benefit of the whole Church. Therefore, a motive of great appreciation is the fact that young men choose to dedicate some years of their existence in generous availability to the Successor of Peter and to the Ecclesial Community. Sometimes the Lord calls some of you to follow Him in the way of the priesthood or of consecrated life, finding a willing terrain cultivated in fact during the time of service in the Guard. Others, instead, follow the conjugal vocation and form a family. With you, I thank the Lord, source of all good, for the different gifts and various vocations that He entrusts to you, and I pray also so that all those that now begin their service will be able to respond fully to Christ’s call, following Him with faithful generosity.
This circumstance gives me the opportunity to thank publicly all the members of the Swiss Guard for the diligent fulfillment of their service. I very much appreciate your capacity to combine the professional and spiritual aspects, thus expressing your devotion and fidelity to the Apostolic See. For their part, the pilgrims and tourists that come to Rome have the possibility to experience the courtesy and availability of the Guards at the various entrances of Vatican City. Never forget these qualities, which are a beautiful testimony and the sign of the Church’s welcome.
My sincere greetings go to the young recruits and I hope that they can have profitable spiritual and human experiences, be it in the Vatican or in the city of Rome. May these years that you will spend here be the occasion for a deepening of your faith and an even stronger love for the Church. I accompany you with my prayer and I thank you for having chosen to put some years of your life at the disposition of the Successor of Peter. You, too, please, pray for me.
With these sentiments, I wish you a happy celebration and I impart to you, present here, and to the entire Pontifical Swiss Guard Corps my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.
© Libreria Editrice Vatican
[Original text: Italian] [Exaudi’s translation by Virginia m. Forrester]
