Pope Francis has described some Catholic priests as so scary and neurotic he keeps well away from them.
In comments that had his audience chuckling at a conference on training for the priesthood, the 78-year-old pontiff revealed he was instinctively suspicious of overly pious candidates.
"I will tell you sincerely, I'm scared of rigid priests," he said on Friday. "I keep away from them. They bite!"
The pope resorted to humour to make a serious point about people who were drawn to a clerical career and yet were fundamentally unstable - and who created problems for the church if they were not weeded out.
"If you are sick, if you are neurotic, go and see a doctor, spiritual or physical," he said.
"But, please, don't let the faithful pay for neurotic priests."