Synopses & Reviews
With the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the world witnessed the pomp and honor of the Swiss Guard, the "Popes 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 Popes imprisonment; two World Wars; the Nazi occupation of Rome.
Synopsis
A history of the military guard that has witnessed every major Vatican event for half a millennium covers such topics as the Medici popes and the sack of Rome, the Napoleonic war, and the Nazi occupation of Rome.