Pope Francis received Swiss President Viola Amherd on May 4.
“Switzerland supports the reconstruction of the barracks and the recruitment of new Swiss Guards,” Amherd tweeted after the meeting. She said that during the audience, “I spoke about the civil war in Sudan, about the common commitment to international humanitarian law and against the death penalty.”
Amherd also meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
The parties, according to a Vatican statement, discussed the “good relations” between the Holy See and Switzerland, the Swiss Guard and the renovation of their barracks, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Holy Land, and “the necessary commitment to promoting peace, in the search for a diplomatic solution leading to an end to hostilities as soon as possible.”
The European nation of 8.6 million (map) is 56% Christian and 9% Muslim.