VATICAN CITY
Press TV (Iran)
Pope Francis has fired the head of the Swiss Guard, the Vatican’s official newspaper says.
“The Holy Father has decided that Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig, Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, will leave office on January 31, 2015, at the end of the extension granted after the end of his five-year mandate,” L’Osservatore Romano wrote on Wednesday.
Anrig has been the commander of the 120-strong Swiss Guard since 2008.
The Vatican did not give further details; however, Il Messaggero, a Rome-based daily, said, “The Pope has signaled to his aides that he would have liked a less strict military corps, with a less obsessive regime compared to the one enforced by Colonel Anrig.”
Media outlets have construed the move as a reaction against “obsessive” rigidity in the security force of the Pope.
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