Rows of gleaming helmets, crisply pressed uniforms and the wooden haft of a halberd catching the Roman light: those are the arresting images AP photographers captured as members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard readied for their swearing-in ceremony, a compact of tradition rarely divorced from contemporary responsibilities. The ceremony, historically linked to the commemoration of the Sack of Rome in 1527, is typically attended by the pope and attracts pilgrims, diplomats and tourists to St. Peter’s Square.

The photographs show recruits rehearsing ceremonial drills, veterans polishing breastplates and a mix of halberds and modern sidearms being inspected on a marble terrace of the Vatican. The juxtaposition of Renaissance-era costume and current tactical training is not merely aesthetic. The Swiss Guard, founded in 1506, remains both a living symbol of the Vatican’s past and an operational unit charged with protecting the pope and key Vatican sites. The force is small — roughly a hundred to 135 guards by most recent counts — and tightly recruited. Members are Swiss citizens who have completed Swiss military service and meet strict physical and religious criteria, reflecting the Guard’s dual role as elite security detail and ceremonial corps.

Officials at the Vatican emphasize the ceremony’s symbolic weight: it is a public reaffirmation of loyalty and continuity at the heart of a city-state that receives millions of visitors each year. The annual oath also serves as a public demonstration that the Vatican values both pageantry and preparedness. In recent decades the Guard’s training has evolved in response to new security considerations, incorporating firearms training, coordination exercises with Italian police and updated crowd-management protocols alongside the mastery of halberd drill sequences that have been taught for centuries.

That evolution reflects wider pressures. The Vatican’s public profile and the scale of pilgrim gatherings make risk management a central administrative task. Tourism, which remains a vital source of revenue for Vatican cultural institutions, brings economic benefits but also logistical and security burdens. High-visibility ceremonies, from papal audiences to the swearing-in, require careful planning that blends Vatican tradition with contemporary risk assessment.

The photographs are also a reminder of how small institutions project continuity. The Swiss Guard’s colorful dress, often mistaken in popular lore for designs by Renaissance masters, is a 20th-century refinement on older styles; the uniform has itself become a draw for visitors and a visual shorthand for the Vatican. At the same time, the Guard’s compact size and strict recruitment profile pose staffing challenges in an era of tight labor markets in Switzerland and beyond, prompting occasional public discussion about how to sustain such specialized forces over the long term.

As priests, pilgrims and tourists gather for the oath, the images convey a simple but resonant message: the Vatican continues to stage its rituals with an eye toward the present. The halberd and the handgun, the polish and the patrol, are part of the same show of continuity — a small, centuries-old force adapting to modern expectations while projecting an image that the world still comes to see.