The Pope is expecting his pontificate to be brief, perhaps just four or five years, he has revealed.
In an interview to mark the second anniversary of his election in 2013, Pope Francis told Valentina Alazraki, from the Mexican broadcaster Televisa, that he did not expect to live much longer.
"I have the feeling that my Pontificate will be brief: four or five years; I do not know, even two or three. Two have already passed. It is a somewhat vague sensation. Maybe it's like the psychology of the gambler who convinces himself he will lose so he won't be disappointed and if he wins, is happy. I do not know. But I feel that the Lord has placed me here for a short time, and nothing more... But it is a feeling."
He also spoke of his longing to go out on the street as he used to in Buenos Aires, when he was an Archbishop and Jesuit priest in Argentina, and not be recognised.
Asked, "Do you like being Pope?" he replied: "I do not mind!"
Asked what he did and did not like, Pope Francis admitted: "The only thing I would like is to go out one day, without being recognised, and go to a pizzeria for a pizza."
He adds: "In Buenos Aires I was a rover. I moved between parishes and certainly this habit has changed... it has been hard work to change. But you get used to it. You find a way to get around: on the phone, or in other ways... "
The wide-ranging interview with took place in Casa Santa Marta, the room where his Council of Nine cardinals hold their meetings and which is dominated by a large image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The Pope at one point in the discussion said Catholic priests should learn to preach like evangelicals.
He said evangelicals are close to the people, they aim for the heart and prepare their homilies really well.
"I think we have to have a conversion in this. The Protestant concept of the homily is much stronger than the Catholic. It's almost a sacrament."
Discussing whether evangelical movements are sects, he said that what they typically offer is "personal contact, the ability to be close to the people, to greet and meet people in person." He added that clericalism in Latin America had been one of the biggest obstacles to growth.
He also made a distinction between "honest and good evangelical movements" and those that are considered sects, singling out the so-called prosperity gospel for particular criticism.
"There are sects - some originate from the theology of prosperity - that promise a better life and, although they appear animated by great religious spirit, eventually they ask for money."
On his far-reaching reforms of the Curia, he said: "I think this is the last court that remains in Europe. The others have been democratised, even the most classic among them. There is something in the Papal court that maintains a somewhat atavistic tradition. And I do not say this in a derogatory way, it is a question of culture. This must be changed, the appearance of a court can be maintained, while being a working group at the service of the Church, at the service of the bishops."
Asked about the Synod for the Family, which reconvenes later this year, the journalist asked the Pope about communion for divorced and remarried people, and about homosexuality.
Pope Francis admitted there were enormous expectations and referred to the "serious difficulties" that the family is experiencing in society, especially among younger generations. He said it was important to prevent many marriages becoming more a social event rather than one of faith.
Hd also said the problem of child abuse is a grave one, with most cases of abuse occurring in the family sphere or involving other people who are known to them.
But he admitted: "Even one priest committing abuse is sufficient reason to mobilise all structures of the Church to confront the problem. Indeed, it is a priest's duty to nurture a little boy or girl in holiness and in their encounter with Jesus and what they (abusers) do is destroy this encounter with Jesus."
The Pope promised to visit Mexico for a week or more before long, and speaking about people who cross or flee Mexico in search of a better life, he said migration was the result of a "malaise", of a hunger, and the same thing was happening in Africa. Drug trafficking was also a problem. Europe was reviewing the issue, and Italy had traditionally been generous.
