Italy - Vatican - Swiss Guard - Mader

Colonnel Theodor Mader, Chief of the Vatican Swiss Guards, adresses the media during a press conference at the Vatican for the presentation of the official celebrations programm of the 500th anniversary and Jubilee of the Vatican Swiss guards. One highlight of the celebrations, which will run from January to July 2006, will be a 723 km (450 mile), 27-day march from Bellinzona, Switzerland to re-enact the Guards' entry to Rome when Pope Julius II hired them to protect him. A ceremony on May 6 will commemorate the day in 1527 when 147 Guards were killed in St Peter's Square defending Pope Clement VII during the sack of Rome. (Photo by Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis via Getty Images)