Pope Francis on Isis Assassination Plot: 'Please Make Sure It Doesn't Hurt Too Much'

Pope Francis has responded to the long-running story about apparent death threats and assassination plots by the Isis and other jihadist militant groups, by saying that if they indeed killed him, he would like the death to be a quick and painless one.

In an interview with a newspaper, the pontiff added that if the fanatics wanted to kill him and that he was indeed supposed to die at their hands, it will be entirely "God's will".

"Life is in God's hands. I have said to the Lord, 'You take care of me. But if it is your will that I die or something happens to me, I ask you only one favour: that it doesn't hurt. Because I am a real wimp when it comes to physical pain.'" the leader of the Catholic Church told Argentinian tabloid La Carcova News.

The comments were made in response to collective questions asked by the inhabitants of the shantytown, Villa la Carcova, as noted by British paper the Express.

Isis, the extremely violent militant group composed of hardliner Sunni militants in Syria and Iraq, has repeatedly issued death threats to Pope Francis, occasionally also threatening to "annex" the whole of Europe including Rome and the Vatican.

Other militant groups have also offered their own shares of threats to the Christian religious leader.

According to a contested January 2015 report by Philippines military, for example, a plot by Southeast Asian Jihadist terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiya to kill the pontiff was foiled in the last minute. The claim was, however, denied by the Vatican.

Also in August last year, the Italian newspaper Il Tempo published a disturbing report, stating that the Pope was "in the crosshairs" of Isis group because he bore "false witness" against Islam. It cited unnamed sources in Italian intelligence as well as the heightened security in Rome to claim that the militant group had plans to "confront" Pope Francis since he was the "greatest exponent of the Christian religions."