It takes over an hour to don the colourful uniform of the pope's Swiss Guards, and new recruits soon discover they cannot buckle up armour weighing 15 kilograms by themselves. Jeremy and Paul, whose surnames cannot be published for security reasons, will soon be sworn in as guards at the Vatican, becoming part of an ancient, prestigious body responsible for protecting the pope. "Being physically fit is not only important to look good in the uniform, but also to protect the pope, when there are audiences and so on, we must always be ready to step in if something happens," says Jeremy. The Swiss Guards, the world's oldest practising army, was founded by Pope Julius II in 1506. Its admission requirements are stringent: unmarried, male, Swiss, a practising Catholic, aged between 19 and 30, at least 1.74 metres tall, and bearing, according to the rules, "an impeccable reputation". IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES