New Swiss Guards swear loyalty to Pope in ceremony

VATICAN CITY, May 6 (Reuters) Thirty-eight new recruits of the Swiss Guard, the world's smallest army, swore allegiance to the Pope today in a colourful Vatican ceremony.

The recruits raised three fingers, symbolising the Holy Trinity, and shouted their allegiance to the pontiff in German, French, Italian or Ladin (a north Italian language) at the ceremony in the Vatican Audience Hall.

Pope Benedict, who greeted his new guards at an audience on Saturday, thanked them for ''choosing to dedicate some years of your youth to the service of the Pope and his closest collaborators.'' The recruits are all Catholics between 19 and 30 years of age who come from the Swiss army. A traditional requirement that they must be at least 174 cm tall to apply for the job was recently lifted.

The Swiss Guard was founded on Jan 22, 1506, when 150 Swiss mercenaries marched to Rome to serve under Pope Julius II, known as ''the warrior Pope''.

''From that day on ... the story of your body of Guards has been intimately linked with the events and the life of the Church,'' Pope Benedict told the guards.

''And it is a long story of faithfulness and generous service always given with dedication, sometimes even with the heroism of sacrificing your lives.'' Earlier on Sunday a ceremony was held to commemorate the 140 Guards killed in the May 6, 1527 sacking of Rome. The surviving 47 members saved the life of Pope Clement VII.

Last year a small contingent of veterans marked the Guard's 500th anniversary by making a 27-day trek from Switzerland to the Vatican, retracing the 1506 march.

Today, the Guard numbers around 110 men. Many of its members still carry the unit's trademark weapon -- a halberd, which is a combination of spear and battleaxe. More practically, some of them also have automatic weapons.

Reuters SM DB2228