Picture Archives: Pope’s Guard, Circa 1930s
This the first time the Vatican’s Swiss Guard will see a pope step down.
Quitting is uncommon. The expectation is that a pope, once elected, will serve until he dies.
Though it has been employed by popes for over half a millennium, this is the first resignation the papal army will have seen. The last pope to resign, Gregory XII, did so almost a hundred years before the Swiss Guard first entered the Vatican.
In 1415, three popes claimed rule at the same time, so Gregory XII took off the mitre and bowed out in hopes of reconciling the schism.
Three other Benedicts also had unexpected ends to their papal reigns. Benedict V was forced by Emperor Otto III to admit he wasn't a true pope just a year after he'd been given the office in
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