‘Some wanted me dead:’ Pope acknowledges right-wing critics

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has acknowledged his increasingly vocal right-wing critics. He says their “nasty comments” were the work of the devil and added that “some wanted me dead” after his recent intestinal surgery. Francis made the comments during a Sept. 12 private meeting with Slovakian Jesuits soon after he arrived in the Slovak capital, Bratislava. A transcript of the encounter was published Tuesday by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica. Francis showed his dark sense of humor throughout the encounter. When a Jesuit asked him how he was feeling after the surgery, the pope quipped “Still alive!”