The Pope's Army 500 Years of the Papal Swiss Guard

With the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the world witnessed the pomp and honor of the Swiss Guard, the "Pope's Army." Now best-selling author and Crisis columnist Robert Royal takes us through the colorful 500-year history of the military guard that has witnessed every major Vatican event for half a millennium. Topics include: origins; five hundred years of fortitude; the Medici Popes; the sack of Rome; siege, dissolution, rebirth and the Napoleonic war; the unification of Italy; the Pope's imprisonment; two World Wars; the Nazi occupation of Rome.