[jjotto]

...when I visited the Vatican, there were guards everywhere...

And they carry automatic weapons. Looked like Uzis to me.

Believe it or not, there are FReepers who claim the Vatican is open and unguarded except for the ceremonial Swiss Guard.

[from occupied ga]

Believe it or not, there are FReepers who claim the Vatican is open and unguarded except for the ceremonial Swiss Guard.

1. They obviously haven't been there
2. The swiss guards are not ceremonial
3. There are plenty of Italian police there as well (the ones who have the smgs)

That doesn't look like an "open door" policy to me.

[varyouga]

“Believe it or not, there are FReepers who claim the Vatican is open and unguarded except for the ceremonial Swiss Guard.”

Swiss Guard are all highly trained and those on real guard duty carry automatic weapons.

A few do the ceremony in the funny outfits to show what it looked like in old times.

Those guys USED to be the real guard: Before guns, spears were the deadliest weapons available and camouflage wasn’t used on the battlefield.

Armies of wealthy nations wore those bright silly uniforms to differentiate sides and faced each other “like men”.