And that is why he wants to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, not in St Peter's Basilica.
In his autobiography "Hope", published worldwide on Tuesday, the 88-year-old talks about these and other unusual decisions on a personal level.
These include the choice of his place of residence. Francis opted for a small flat in the Vatican guest house Santa Marta and left the rooms in the Apostolic Palace empty.
"As soon as I was there and spoke to Fr Georg, the then Prefect of the Papal Household, I knew I wouldn't be staying there."
He thanked him for his visit and began to look for a solution, Francis says of his encounter with the official papal residence and the German Archbishop Georg Gänswein, whom he only mentions by name at this point in the book.
According to Francis, it is simply because of his personality that he cannot live there. "I need to share my life with others."
Orthopaedic shoes because of flat feet
Immediately after his election, Francis made other spontaneous decisions, as he explains. These included the decision in favour of the name Francis, which came to him after Cardinal Claudio Hummes (1934-2022) called on him to "not forget the poor".
The decision to keep his bishop's ring and his bishop's cross as Pope was also made on the spur of the moment.
"Red shoes? No, I have to wear orthopaedic shoes anyway. Unfortunately, I have slightly flat feet," writes Francis.
The then new pope also rejected the velvet mozetta (shoulder collar), the linen stole and the request to wear white trousers from then on: "I'm not an ice-cream seller."
Although not for the first time, the 88-year-old talks in great detail in "Hope" about the decisive days surrounding his election as Pope.
The retrospective notes on his speech to the cardinals, which was to become the decisive statement before his election, are documented.
He talks about his first telephone calls and his first visit to his favourite Roman basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore, as Pope.
Francis regrets that he still only knows very few churches in Rome: "It is simply difficult to get to know a city as Pope."