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June 19, 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 12 • Oakland, CA
Six popes later,
security chief at
Vatican turns in his jogging shoes
VATICAN CITY
(CNS) -- Camillo Cibin holds the world record for miles jogged alongside
a moving popemobile.
But he made his last run around St. Peter’s Square May 31 and retired
June 3, two days short of his 80th birthday.
Pope Benedict XVI accepted Cibin’s resignation as director of security
services and civil protection for Vatican City State and named 43-year-old
Domenico Giani to succeed him.
In effect, the director is the Vatican’s chief of police, but when
the pope is in public view at home or abroad, he is the No. 1 papal bodyguard.
Cibin, a broad-shouldered, white-haired tower of strength, did not ease
into retirement.
His farewell tour was accompanying Pope Benedict to Poland May 25-28,
coordinating in advance with local security services, then walking or
running at the pope’s side in the midst of massive crowds. When
the hordes broke through the security cordon after the pope’s May
26 Mass in Warsaw, Cibin exhibited his well-honed skill of gently tossing
interlopers aside like they were pieces of tissue.
Cibin also is master of a modified karate chop that prevents people from
grabbing onto the pope or his vestments yet leaves no broken bones.
At the urging of his parish priest, Cibin and four other young men from
his hometown applied and were accepted into the Vatican security services
in 1947.
He was appointed director more than 40 years ago and was in charge of
Vatican security during the Second Vatican Council and the conclaves that
elected Popes John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict.
He is the only person to have been on all the papal flights for pastoral
trips abroad,
accompanying Pope Paul VI on nine trips, Pope John Paul on 104 trips and
Pope Benedict to Germany in 2005 and Poland in 2006.
In what Vatican Radio described as “the day, hour and minute”
of Cibin’s worst nightmare, the commander also was alongside Pope
John Paul’s popemobile in St. Peter’s Square May 13, 1981,
when Mehmet Ali Agca shot the pope. While the director of the Italian
police detail assigned to St. Peter’s Square jumped into the popemobile,
Cibin apprehended the Turkish gunman.
The Italian police officer, Francesco Pasanisi, has given interviews about
his memories of that day, but Cibin has not. In fact, it appears Cibin
has never given an interview, and he was turning down requests in the
first days of his retirement as well.
In writing about Cibin’s retirement, Avvenire -- the daily newspaper
sponsored by the Italian bishops’ conference -- spoke about his
“absolutely impenetrable reserve.”
“According to a quip that circulates in the Vatican, Cibin has never
responded to a question, not even ‘What time is it?’”
the newspaper said, admitting that might be a slight exaggeration.
When Pope Benedict met June 3 with an estimated 350,000 members of lay
movements and communities, he spent more than half an hour riding through
the crowd in St. Peter’s Square and down the long boulevard leading
to the Tiber River. Six hours after being named chief of Vatican security,
Giani was running next to the popemobile -- on the driver’s side
where Cibin had been a fixture for decades.
A native of Arezzo who is married and has two children, Giani brings a
strong professional background and a history of Catholic volunteer work
to his position as head of the 130-member Vatican force.
After earning a teaching degree, he entered the Italian finance police,
then served on the security detail of the Italian prime minister. He came
to the Vatican as Cibin’s assistant in 1999.
While he has not given interviews, his photograph did make it into several
Italian newspapers just before he was promoted: Standing downwind from
the popemobile May 24, he got hit in the face with Pope Benedict’s
wind-borne zucchetto. Since he didn’t duck, the photographers got
a good shot.
And since he caught the white skullcap before it fell, he impressed people
with his quick reflexes.
Camillo Cibin, the long-serving head of Vatican security services, is seen in Papua New Guinea in 1984 on one of the 104 trips on which he accompanied Pope John Paul II. The Vatican security chief retired June 3, two days short of his 80th birthday.
CNS PHOTO/GIANCARLO GIULIAN
