The Swiss Guard

Flag of the Swiss Guard 

 One hundred Swiss Guards have been the only armed corps at the Vatican since Pope Paul VI. Their hours are long-sixty or seventy a week. The pay is merely 1.8 million lire ($1,000) a month-far less than an Italian soldier would earn.

Switzerland is a secular state. Many of the  men coming to serve at the Vatican experience great conversion doing their time. Annually three former Swiss guards become priests.