Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The Church brings together men and women from very different cultures. They form a community in which people live and believe together and, in the essential things of life, understand once another. This is a very important experience which the Church wishes to pass on to you so that you can make it your own and communicate it to others: the experience that through faith in Jesus Christ and in His love for mankind, even such different worlds can become a single unit, creating bridges of peace and solidarity between peoples.” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard Corps, whom he received in an audience along with their family members on May 7, on the occasion of the oath made by the 32 new recruits. Highlighting the task of the Swiss Guards, the Pope said: “It is your task to protect the Successor of the Apostle Peter, above all in the Papal Residence. You do so in Rome, a city which has always been known as 'the Eternal City.' Here, near the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, where the Pope lives, is the heart of the Catholic Church and where the heart and the center is, there lies the entire world.”
The primary service of the Guards, therefore, is in relation to the Apostolic Palace: “You must watch over the home of the Pope, but not only over the building itself and its celebrated rooms, but particularly over the people you will meet and to whom you will demonstrate your courtesy and concern. Firstly, for the Pope himself, over the people who live with him, and over his collaborators and guests in the Palace.” Later, turning his attention to Rome, “the Eternal City known for its rich history and culture,” in which “faith and prayer have over the centuries been transformed into stones and buildings,” the Pope affirmed that “this is the environment in which we live and that inspires us to take as our model the countless saints who have also lived here, and who help us to progress in our life of faith.” Lastly, in Rome, where we find the heart of the Universal Church, “we encounter Christians from all over the globe. The Catholic Church is international. Yet in her multiplicity she is nonetheless one Church, expressing the same confession of faith and tangibly united by her bond to Peter and his Successor, the Pope.”
The Holy Father concluded his address by expressing his hope that the Swiss Guards' stay in Rome would be “spiritually and humanly edifying,” and entrusted them to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and their Patron Saints Martin and Sebastian, along with the Patron of Switzerland, Fray Nicholas de Flue. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 8/5/2009)
