I Was a Palatine Guard

PERHAPS you never knew that the pope has an army. But it is true. For nine years I served in the Vatican military as a member of the Palatine Guard of Honor.

Of course, the pope does not have a regular army, as popes used to. Pope Julius II in the early sixteenth century would assume personal command of his army and lead it into battle. Also, the Roman Catholic Church in the past maintained religious military orders. Of these, The Catholic Encyclopedia says: “These orders surpassed, in that cohesiveness which is the ideal of every military organization, the most famous bodies of picked soldiery known to history.”​—1911, Vol. X, page 307.

So it should not really surprise anyone that the modern-day state of Vatican City would also have a militia.

Recent Military Organization

Of the four armed corps that the Vatican has maintained in recent years, the Swiss Guard is probably best known. Since 1505, when Pope Julius II made a treaty with the Swiss to supply constantly 250 men as his bodyguard, a corps of Swiss military have attended the pope. In August 1959 Pope John XXIII reorganized the corps to include a number of officers, two drummers, a chaplain, and seventy guards.

The Noble Guard apparently once had even greater prestige, since The Catholic Encyclopedia called it the “most distinguished corps of the papal military service.” It was formed in 1801. The Papal Gendarmes and the Palatine Guard completed the pope’s defense corps.

The Palatine Guard of Honor was formed in 1850 by Pope Pius XI. He decreed that two existing bodies of militia be united into one body under this new name. Prior to 1870 the Palatine Guard was assigned military operations in war, but afterward their functions were largely ceremonial.

From 1968 to 1971, however, the Noble Guard, Palatine Guard and the gendarmerie were dissolved. So the Swiss Guard alone remains of the Vatican military.

Why I Wanted to Join

My father had been a member of the Palatine Guard for about thirty years, a position of which he and my mother were very proud. And so they desired that I follow the family tradition. But there were other reasons I wanted to join.

I had drifted away from religion in my teens, being deeply influenced by the evolutionary training that I had received in school. So I felt that if I were in close contact with the most prominent religious leaders in the world, including the pope himself, my faith in God might be strengthened.

Also, I must admit, another reason for wanting to join was the esteem and glamour associated with the position. As one of the Palatine Guard a person could meet many famous people and enjoy a place of prominence at important religious functions.

Acceptance

So in 1960, at the age of eighteen, I submitted my application for admittance to the Palatine Guard. After being favorably recommended by my parish priest, I was called for a personal interview.

I remember well the anxiety I felt as I approached the imposing buildings of the Vatican. I entered the reception hall and before me was a long table. Behind it sat the Corps Commander, the Chaplain Colonel and four other persons. At one side of the room hung portraits of ten popes, and beside each of them a wrinkled flag in memory of past battles.

First I was asked some personal questions. Then the chaplain asked me to recite some Catholic prayers, such as the Apostles’ Creed, Act of Faith and Act of Hope. Having failed to pay close attention to religious instruction, I feared that my superficial knowledge would be noted. But my worries proved unfounded, since the interview was only a formality. About a month later, I was admitted to the Palatine Guard.

Training and Dress

After a brief religious service, my training started with about an hour’s lesson on religion. Then every Thursday I attended a course of religious instruction. I hoped that this would help me to grow in knowledge of God and that my doubts regarding his existence would be removed. But it was not to be so. In fact, Church dogmas that were taught us only increased my doubts.

However, I did enjoy the military training. In time, I was permitted to wear the impressive military uniform of the Palatine Guard. It included a black jacket, blue pants made from soft young beaver skin, a white belt, black shoes, and a rigid black hat with visor and a plume of red feathers. Other accessories included an assortment of thick golden cords, and showy golden-colored epaulets that tourists would seek to tear off during parades.

In the Pope’s Service

The pope would hold audiences with visitors in the throne room or in St. Peter’s Basilica. Generally I was assigned anteroom service, being stationed at the entrance to the hall where the pope received his visitors. The visitor would be accompanied by a chamber master or footman, and the moment he passed in front of us we would snap to attention. I particularly remember two high-level visits.

One was that of a Buddhist monk clothed in a yellow tunic. He visited Pope Paul VI during the Vatican Council II to speak in behalf of peace in Vietnam. That visit caused a sensation because, at the time, newspaper stories about Buddhist monks committing suicide by burning themselves were common.

The other visit was that of Queen Elizabeth of England, who is recognized, not only as a political head, but also as head of the Anglican Church of England. In keeping with Vatican protocol, the queen, as well as each person in her retinue, was accompanied by a representative of the pontifical court. On arriving before the pope, the guest’s attendant usually suggests that the guest kiss the ring when the pope extends his hand. Thus the queen bowed and kissed the pontiff’s hand​—the head of the Anglican Church bowing to the head of the Roman Catholic Church—​quite a successful diplomatic maneuver on the part of the pontifical court!

Other vivid remembrances I have are of the parades when the Palatine Guard, preceded by the sounding of imperial trumpets, would enter St. Peter’s Square. For example, there was the annual June 2 celebration in honor of the Italian army, during which the pontiff imparted the solemn Urbi et Orbi blessing.

I also served in the honor guard during many official visits of heads of states, including those of President de Gaulle of France, King Hussein of Jordan, President Sukarno of Indonesia and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. I served, too, at the entrance to Pope John XXIII’s death chamber in June 1963 and shortly afterward at the election of Pope Paul VI.

Pomp and Ceremony

On Wednesday morning the pope would hold a public audience in the throne room with persons who had made appointments in advance to see him and receive his blessing. It was indeed an impressive spectacle when the pope would appear with his entourage for these occasions.

The pope made his entrance seated on a sort of throne on a platform that was carried by his servants. These would be followed by a large retinue of colorfully and gorgeously attired ecclesiastics and attendants. They had such titles as Cavalier of the Cape and Sword, Secret Gentlemen’s Servant, and Master of the Chamber. Included, too, in the procession were the commanders and officers of the various army corps of the Vatican.

Almost unbelievable scenes of all kinds took place on these occasions. For example, one might see a screaming woman tearing at her hair and raising a crucifix to the pope as he passed by, protected behind the movable wooden railings. Some hysterical persons had to be removed by force. Babies were held on high to have the pope touch them.

Also, extended toward the pope were scores of hands holding a letter or sheet that had written on it some supplication. And church dignitaries near the pope’s portable throne would accept these in a condescending manner. But there were also persons who laughed, others who cried, and still others who remained indifferent. Hymns were sung, and handkerchiefs waved.

Whenever these public audiences were held in St. Peter’s Basilica the scene was even more striking. The acclaim raised at the pope’s entrance followed him like a wave of the sea as he moved along. However, in recent years I noted a decrease in the number of visitors.

Coronation of the Pope

Surpassing, however, the pomp and splendor of papal audiences was the pope’s coronation. “The grandeur,” witnesses have said, “will never be forgotten.” I was there at the coronation of Pope Paul VI on June 30, 1963, and it was indeed a notable event in my career as one of the Palatine Guard. Present were heads of state, ministers, ambassadors, political and military dignitaries, journalists and Catholic and Protestant representatives from all parts of the world.

It seemed almost unreal​—all the extravagance, the precious stones, the brilliantly expensive dress of the participants, especially of the pope carried on his triumphal throne, the slowly moving fans of ostrich plumes about him, the music, the ceremony. The grandeur beggars description. The coronation of the ancient Byzantine emperors, after which papal coronations are patterned, surely could not have been more ostentatious.

Then there was the magnificent entrance of the entire papal court in great pomp, with the Palatine Guard heading the procession. The slow-moving procession lasted almost an hour in a merry-go-round of brilliant colors, as a chorus of young voices accompanied the moving line of hundreds of cardinals and bishops. Finally Pope Paul VI was crowned with a splendorous headpiece mounted with precious gems, a regal symbol of the power supposedly conferred on him as the representative of Christ on earth.

But I asked myself: Is it truly the will of God that his Son have such a representative on earth? Is all this pomp proper? Does Christ approve?

Answers I Received

I received an answer from a blind man who took advantage of the opportunity to speak to me at the office where I generally worked. From what he showed me from the Bible I came to appreciate that the pope was not imitating the example of Christ and his apostles. Why, when an Italian army officer fell at the apostle Peter’s feet to do obeisance to him, I learned, Peter said: “Rise; I myself am also a man.” (Acts 10:25, 26) Yet Church leaders behave in utter contrast to Peter!

But there were other matters. The Catholic Church teaches that humans have an immortal soul that they say may be burned forever in a hell of fire or tormented in purgatory, depending upon the sins committed. Yet I learned that the Bible teaches that man is a soul, and he has no separate immortal soul. “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die,” the Catholic Douay Version Bible says. (Ezek. 18:4) And the Bible hell is obviously not a place of fire, as shown by such Bible passages as King David’s prayer to God: “If I descend into hell, thou art present.” The Scriptures make clear that the Bible hell is simply the common grave of mankind.​—Ps. 138:8, Douay Version; see also Job 14:13; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; Acts 2:31.

Furthermore, I was shown that God is not a Trinity. He is not three coequal gods and yet one God, as the Catholic Trinity teaching, in effect, says. “The Lord thy God is one God,” Christ taught, and he also acknowledged: “The Father is greater than I.” (Mark 12:29; John 14:28, Douay Version) I learned these things from my Bible discussion with this blind man, who is one of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses.

However, thinking about these things began to disturb me, for I realized that I had a responsibility before God to act in accord with these truths. One day I was at the club of the Palatine Guard sitting in the movie-projection room near a monsignor. During the change in reels I asked him in a matter-of-fact way if he knew anything about those people who claim to be able to prove from the Bible that there is no Trinity, that the soul is not immortal and that there is no hellfire. He asked whom I meant. I answered, “Jehovah’s witnesses.” He surprised me when he replied, “Ah, but those are Christians.”

Thus I began a serious study of the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses, and I received the Bible-based knowledge that has truly strengthened my faith in God. In time I dedicated my life to serve the true God, Jehovah, and since then have had the joy of wielding, not a literal weapon, but ‘the sword of the spirit, God’s Word,’ helping others also to learn the truth about Jehovah God and his grand purposes. (Eph. 6:17)​—Contributed.