00 25/10/2009 19:16
SAY A PRAYER:
FORMER CHIEF BODYGUARD
FOR JP2 AND B16 DIES at 83
Translated from

Oct. 25, 2009



Even if official protocol does not call for it, all of Vatican City state is in mourning today: Camillo Cibin, historic Chief of Vatican Gendarmerie (and therefore chief papal bodyguard), died today at age 83 in a Rome hospital.



Cibin, shown above with Benedict XVI on Dec. 31, 2005, retired in 2006 when he turned 80, after 58 years of service.

He was John Paul II's bodyguard throughout his Pontificate and was near him during the attempted assassination in May 1981. He offered to resign then, but the Pope turned him down.


Cibin on duty on the day of Benedict XVI's installation Mass, above, and during a subsequent GA in St. Peter's Square (center, in photo).



[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/10/2009 23:03]