Pope swiss guard

 

“What happened in Paris with the Charlie Hebdo attacks could also happen at the Vatican. We are ready to intervene to ensure Francis is protected.” Commander of the Swiss Guard, Colonel Christoph Graf.

Security at the Vatican and across Italy is now on heightened alert because of the risk of possible attacks by Islamist militants. This comes after the recent threats made against the Pope and Vatican by the groups known as ISIS.

Just this last week in a video showing the beheadings by ISIS of 21 Egyptian Christian men, the Islamic militants made a clear threat against the West, one of the militants warned: ‘Today we are south of Rome. We will conquer Rome with Allah’s permission.’ Also this week, an ISIS supporter on a Twitter account threatened to conquer Rome and bring shariah law to the city. They also said that they “vow to ‘throw homosexuals off of Rome’s leaning tower of pizza.” Yes, pizza…

The Italian Minister of the Interior Angelino Alfano had said this week that Vatican security is “very high.” Just this last week they increases the number of soldiers on anti-terror “safe streets” duties from 3,000 to 4,800.

Colonel Graf had said in a statement, “We have asked the guards to be more attentive and carefully observe people’s movements. What happened in Paris can happen here in the Vatican, and you cannot preempt this without an intelligence service that has precise information.”

He further added that his troops “are always ready to intervene.”

The former 34th head of the Swiss Guard, Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig was removed in December 2014 by Pope Francis and Colonel Christoph Graf, 54 who has been in the pontifical Swiss Guard in 1987, was promoted to commander on February 7, 2015.

The Pontifical Swiss Guard has its origins in the 15th century when they first were placed in charge of guarding the Pope. The Guard serves not only as a Guard of Honour but also keep order every time the Pope is in public, that is for liturgical celebrations in St. Peter’s Basilica, at the General Audiences, during visits to the Pope by Heads of States or Governments, Foreign Ministers and Ambassadors.

SOURCES:

Yahoo

Daily Mail

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