Swiss Guards: World’s oldest standing army gets new headgear
VATICAN CITY — The world’s oldest standing army is getting some new headgear.
The Swiss Guards plan to replace their metal helmets with plastic PVC ones made with a 3-D printer, giving the pope’s army cooler and more comfortable headgear when standing guard for hours at a time.
The Swiss Guards unveiled the helmet prototype before their annual swearing-in ceremony Sunday. Thirty-two new recruits — all of them single Swiss men under age 30 and upstanding Catholics — will join the small corps for a minimum two years by pledging to protect the pope and his successors.
The new helmets won’t be donned Sunday since more formal helmets are used for the elaborate, pomp-filled swearing-in ceremony in the San Damaso courtyard of the Apostolic Palace.