POPE FRANCIS ASKS GOD, IF ASSASSINATION'S YOUR WILL, LET IT BE SMOOTH: 'I'M A SCAREDY CAT FOR PAIN'

Pope Francis Asks God, If Assassination's Your Will, Let It Be Smooth: 'I'm a Scaredy Cat For Pain'

Lisa Maree Williams/Getty

By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall

@sswestfall

03/11/2015 AT 07:10 AM EDT

Amid renewed talk of an ISIS threat against Pope Francis, the straight-talking pontiff says he's already prayed about assassination and made his peace with the possibility – up to a point.

"I have said to the Lord: take care of me. But if your will is that I should die or that they do something to me, I ask you one favor – that they don't hurt me," Francis said in an interview with an Argentine magazine released Tuesday.

"Because I'm a real scaredy cat when it comes to physical pain."

Francis, who grew up in Argentina, was taking questions submitted to him by the residents of a shantytown outside of Buenos Aires for their homemade newspaper, called La Cárcova News.

According to Buenos Aires journalist Alver Metalli, who helped the impoverished community launch its newspaper in December, the bold and unusual idea for the paper interview was hatched in January.

"To tell the truth, a few glasses of wine were also involved, which, in the right amount, inspires bold ideas," Metalli told America: The National Catholic Review".

The local parish priest, Father Pepe di Paola, collected questions from hundreds of children and young adults and then handed about a dozen to Francis when the two met in Rome on Feb. 7. When Francis surprised the priest by immediately agreeing to answer the questions, "Father Pepe had no other choice than to take out his cell phone and start recording," Metalli said.

Francis addressed several topics – about political campaigning and how he handles disagreement – and warned against young people living too much of their lives on the Internet.

Asked about the tendency of young people in the modern world embracing "virtual relationships," the selfie-taking, Tweeting pontiff spoke of the dangers of virtual reality and social media replacing direct human contact:

"We have a great capacity to gather information, and this can turn young people into 'museums' – into collectors of images and data that dull and weaken their ability to be critical. In real life, fertility does not just come from the accumulation of information or simply through virtual communication. Virtual love does not exist. The declaration of virtual love exists, but real love requires physical, concrete contact."