Pope gives top guard his marching orders

Pope Francis would like the Swiss Guards to relax a bit. Photo / AP

It's not easy being a member of the Swiss Guard. There's the silly uniform to wear, and occasionally you might have to step in and risk your life to save the boss. But now the current Pontiff, Francis, appears to have done them a favour by letting their current commander go - he was a bit too strict.

In 1505, Pope Julius II turned to Switzerland for help when he needed new personal guards. Back then, before clocks and wristwatches were big business, the country only had manpower - often in the form of mercenaries - to offer.

Over 500 years later, and true to the Swiss Guard's origins, it appears the commander, Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig, 42, is a bit of a hard nut. Too hard a nut, even, because softly-softly Pope Francis has given him his marching orders for being overly strict and autocratic.

Vatican insiders say the commander's sacking on Thursday came as a complete surprise.

But Franca Giansoldati, a Vatican specialist for Rome's Il Messaggero newspaper, said: "From what we have been able to reconstruct, there is a different vision between the Pope who wants relationships inside the Vatican to be humane, brotherly, even paternal. And then, there is the vision of the colonel who is the colonel of the smallest army in the world, but it is still an army, with very rigid rules, very severe and soldierly."

The 77-year-old Pontiff was said to have been shocked recently when he emerged one morning from his private suite of rooms to discover that the same Swiss Guard had been on duty outside all night.

When he told the soldier to sit down, the guard reportedly replied: "I can't, it's against orders." Francis said: "I give the orders around here," and promptly went off to get his exhausted bodyguard a cup of coffee.