TWENTY-SIX NEW SWISS GUARDS SWORN IN ON SUNDAY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 6, 2001 (VIS) - This afternoon in the San Damaso courtyard of Vatican City, 26 new recruits of the Swiss Guards were sworn in during a ceremony which commemorates the deaths of 147 guards who died on that same date in 1527 as they attempted to defend Pope Clement VII.

Twenty-one of the guards took their oath in German and five took it in French as they raised their right hand with three fingers extended indicating the Trinity and placed their left hand on the flag of the Swiss Guards. The corps was founded by Pope Julius II in 1506.

The new guards and their family members traditionally have an audience with the Holy Father but, given the Pope's pilgrimage this year to Greece, Syria and Malta, this meeting will be held upon his return.

...;NEW SWISS GUARDS;...;...;VIS;20010507;Word: 140;