The Swiss Guard was established by Pope Julius II in 1506. Here's what to know about the 500-year-old military body.

ROME (CNS) — Today’s “builders of Babel” are constructing a hell on earth, rejecting everyone they decide are “losers,” Pope Francis wrote in the meditations for the Way of the Cross.

As tradition dictates, the late pontiff’s signet ring will be destroyed — or defaced, at least — within the walls of the Vatican.