Papal bodyguard retires after serving 58 years at Vatican

VATICAN CITY — One of the most faithful papal servants, Camillo Cibin, is retiring as head of the pope's bodyguards after a 58-year globe-trotting career in the Vatican's security services, the Vatican said Saturday.

Like the late Pope John Paul II, Cibin was a world traveler and often was seen running alongside popemobiles to protect the pontiff during his 104 foreign trips.

Vatican Radio hailed the 80-year-old Cibin for a "career of extraordinary responsibilities," including directing security during the 1962-65 Vatican Council II, which drew cardinals from around the world and set in motion modernizing reforms of the Church.

Last year, a white-haired Cibin kept pace alongside John Paul's vehicle as it carried the pope on his last journey home to the Vatican from Gemelli Polyclinic, a few miles away. A few weeks later, John Paul died in his papal apartment.

Cibin was nearby in 1981 when a Turkish gunman shot John Paul in St. Peter's Square.