Pope does without TV but misses going out for pizza

Pope Francis misses the freedom to walk out into the streets and go to a pizzeria. Photo / Thinkstock

The Pope has disclosed that he has not watched television for 25 years - not even the matches played by his beloved Buenos Aires football team.

The Pontiff told an Argentine newspaper that he last switched on a television in 1990 - a year when Cheers, Northern Exposure, The Golden Girls and Seinfeld were still running.

After that he decided "it was not for me", he told La Voz del Pueblo.

To find out how San Lorenzo, his favourite football team, have fared, the Swiss Guards draw up a table of results for him each week.

The Pope also said he did not use the internet and disclosed he reads only one newspaper - the Italian left-of-centre daily La Repubblica.

Asked what he most missed about his old life in Argentina, Pope Francis cited the freedom to walk out into the streets and go to a pizzeria. The newspaper suggested that he simply orders in a pizza to eat in the Vatican. "Yes, but it's not the same. The nice thing is to go to there, to the pizzeria. I've always been a keen walker. When I was a cardinal [in Buenos Aires] I used to love walking the streets."

The Pope also said he did not use the internet and admitted to being under pressure.

"I am under pressure. All those in government are under pressure. At the moment I feel the workload. I have a strong pace of work at the moment - it's the 'end of the school year syndrome' with the focus on getting everything done before the end of June," he said.