The Swiss Guards, who have protected popes for the last five centuries, now have a new uniform.

The mostly wool uniform is the recreation of a historic military dress for use at galas and other important dinners and will not replace the iconic red, orange, and blue “grand gala” uniforms for which the guards are famous.

The Swiss-made garments were paid for by a benefactor and cost 2,000 euros (around $2,300) apiece. According to Swiss Guard Commander Christoph Graf, they represent “a link between the present and the past.”

The 135 guards in the world’s smallest but oldest army will don the new uniforms for the first time at a dinner the night before the Oct. 4 ceremony to swear in this year’s recruits.

The swearing-in ceremony, when the new guards promise to protect the pope, if necessary with their lives, was postponed from the traditional date of May 6 due to the timing of the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, who is expected to attend.

The May 6 date marks the 1527 battle known as the Sack of Rome, when 147 guards lost their lives defending Pope Clement VII from the army of the mutinous Holy Roman Empire. It is the most significant and deadly event in the history of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, which was established by Pope Julius II in 1506 and is responsible for Vatican security together with the Vatican gendarmes.

The new dress uniform presented Thursday is an update of one used from the late 1800s until 1976. In 2015, the Swiss Guards reintroduced a version of the same uniform, but the latest interpretation, according to Graf, “is more faithful to our tradition.”

Pope Leo thanks new recruits

The pope met the recruits and their families at the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 3, ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.

“From the first steps of my pontificate, dear Swiss Guards, I have been able to count on your faithful service,” he said. “The successor of Peter can fulfill his mission in service to the Church and the world in the certainty that you are watching over his safety.”

He encouraged the new guards to draw inspiration from the stories of the first Christian martyrs in Rome to deepen their relationships with Jesus and to cultivate their interior lives “amid the frenzy of our society.”

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, who will attend the ceremony, also had a private audience with Pope Leo on the morning of Oct. 3.

Swearing-in ceremony

The ceremony in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Vatican on Oct. 4 will be preceded by Mass. The day before there will also be a prayer service and an award banquet. The two days’ events will be attended by representatives of the Swiss army, Swiss government, and Swiss bishops’ conference. Former guards, and family and friends of the new recruits, will also participate.

Press officer and guard Eliah Cinotti said 4,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony, during which recruits take an oath “to faithfully, loyally, and honorably serve the reigning pontiff and his legitimate successors, to devote myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing, if necessary, even my life in their defense.”

During the hourlong event, punctuated by music and drumming from the Pontifical Swiss Guard Band, each new guard places his left hand on the flag of the Swiss Guard while raising his right hand with three fingers open as a sign of his faith in the Holy Trinity.

He then proclaims in a loud voice: “I, Halberdier [name], swear to observe faithfully, loyally, and honorably all that at this moment was read to me. May God and our patron saints assist me!”

Cinotti told journalists this week that 27 new guards in 2025 is an “OK” number, but they are continuously working to recruit more — including by visiting Swiss military bases and attending job fairs.

When it comes to papal security, since the election of Pope Leo, the guards have noticed “an increase in objects being thrown” at the pope, he said, and “it bothers us a bit.”

But, Cinotti added, though it “is very difficult to anticipate the throwing of an object,” guards are trained to spot potentially dangerous items, most of which are confiscated at security before entering St. Peter’s Square.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has also been an increase in what he called “incivility,” including isolated security threats mostly from people under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“Our weapon is the word,” he said, emphasizing that guards work to avoid ever needing to use deadly force, though he acknowledged, “without giving away all our secrets,” that they are also armed.

‘That’s our job’

The biggest challenge for a recruit, Cinotti said, is to “set aside his life and dedicate himself to a cause greater than himself.”

Dario, 25, is one of the new guards who will take the oath to protect the pope on Oct. 4. The Swiss Guards declined to give the full name of the recruit citing security reasons.

Now, six months into his service, he called it an “amazing experience.”

Dario, who started just a few weeks before Pope Francis’ death, said that with the conclave and a jubilee year, it has been a very intense time for the Pontifical Swiss Guard.

“What we have experienced this year, other guards haven’t experienced in their whole service time,” he said.

“What surprised me the most was the effect of the pope on the people, seeing people overwhelmed with feelings when they see him,” Dario, whose father also served as a Swiss Guard, told CNA. “And you just stand there, protect the pope, but you see how much respect he gets from the people.”

This article was originally published on CNA.