by Staff Reporter
June 9, 2013 (TSR) – Pope Francis has candidly revealed he never wanted to be Pope and that he’s living in the Vatican hotel for ‘‘psychiatric reasons’’.
Francis showed a personal and spontaneous side as he met with thousands of children from Jesuit schools across Italy and Albania.
Tossing aside his prepared remarks, the Pope held an impromptu question-and-answer session instead, surprising the kids by asking them if they’d like to ask him some questions instead.
Answering their questions one by one, Francis told them the decision to become a priest had been difficult and that he had suffered moments of interior darkness.
One of the girls, Caterina, asked why he had refused to move into the sumptuous papal apartments, choosing to live instead in a simple hotel-like Vatican residence.
He explained that he lives in a spare suite in the Vatican hotel, rather than the papal apartments, because living alone or isolated wouldn’t be good for him.
“It’s not just a question of riches but also a personality issue. I need to live among people and if I lived on my own, perhaps a little isolated, it wouldn’t do me good,” he said.
He said that a professor also asked him the same question, and responded to him that he had made the decision for “psychiatric reasons”.
Breaking with Vatican tradition, Pope Francis, 76, has shun the official papal apartments after being elected on March 13 during a secret conclave of cardinals, and instead live in a much more modest Vatican ‘hotel’.
The Pope opted to remain in the Casa Santa Marta, a Vatican residence which accommodates visiting clergy and lay people, where he had stayed with his fellow cardinals during the conclave.
He also told a friend that he likes being in daily contact with ordinary people, does not want to be isolated and enjoys sitting down to meals with visiting clergy, and hinted that the arrangement may be permanent.
Another girl, Teresa, asked him if he had wanted to become the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
“A person that wants to be Pope, should not love himself very much. God does not bless him. I didn’t want to become Pope,” he said.
