The Pope has revealed he once worked as a nightclub bouncer in his native Argentina.

The 77-year-old spoke about his life working the doors at a venue in Buenos Aires during a visit to a church in a working class suburb of Rome.

The pontiff also talked about his experiences sweeping floors and working in a laboratory as a teenager, according to Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

Pope Francis spent four hours chatting to followers at the church of San Cirillo Alessandrino after celebrating Mass on Sunday.

He did not go into details about his career as a bouncer or what experiences it had brought to his current job as head of the Roman Catholic Church.


Image: Francis meets the faithful at the church of San Cirillo Alessandrino

Instead, he talked about how his work later in life, teaching literature and psychology, "taught him how to get people back into the church", the paper reported.

Francis said he discovered his vocation to the clergy after confession with a priest he had never met before.

He was asked how he spent his day, and said: "I pray, then I celebrate Mass and then I start work.". He said this includes reading letters and reports as well as meeting bishops, priests and laypeople.

He said he eats lunch between noon and 1pm, rests for 30 minutes and then works until the evening.

In answer to another question, he admitted feeling stage-fright as Pope while celebrating his first Mass.

"Was I anxious? A little, yes, but everyone was nice. But it's true, having a lot of people in front of you is a bit scary," the paper quoted him as saying.