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.

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.