VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Friday marked the second anniversary of his surprise election by predicting that he won't be pope for long — and by calling a special Jubilee Year to focus the church on his top priority while he's still around: mercy.
"I have the sensation that my pontificate will be brief: Four or five years," Francis said in an interview with the Mexican broadcaster Televisa. "I don't know. Or two or three. Well, two have already passed!"
Francis has previously said he thought he'd be pope for two to three years and that the precedent set by Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI's resignation in 2013 shouldn't be considered exceptional.
Francis also said he didn't dislike being pope but that what he really missed was his freedom.
"The only thing I'd like to do is to be able to go out one day without anyone recognizing me and go get a pizza," he said, laughing.
So interesting- I remember reading an article on the prophesy of St. Malachi that said Pope Benedict was supposed to be the last pope before Peter returned to Rome, but one line of thought was that there was a break in the prophesy right between Pope Benedict, and Peter, and that the space could describe an undetermined number of Popes- so this could predict a rapid succession of numerous Popes being consecrated, and then retiring for the next one- very intriguing.
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