Pope to wear cast for month after breaking wrist

DOCTORS say Pope Benedict XVI will have to stay in a cast for a month after breaking his right wrist in a fall in his chalet while vacationing in the Italian Alps.

Pierluigi Berti, the director of the Umberto Parini hospital in Aosta, said doctors had successfully performed a 20-minute operation and the pope would be released last night.

The surgery to reduce the fracture, a procedure to realign the broken bone fragments was performed under local anaesthesia.

A Vatican statement said the 82-year-old pope fell in his room in a nearby chalet overnight and despite the accident, celebrated Mass and had breakfast before going to the hospital.

Doctors took an X-ray of the pope’s right wrist and found a fracture, Trevisan said.

Benedict has been healthy during his five-year pontificate.

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi said earlier Benedict had slipped and was hurt, but it did not seem serious.

Benedict has been vacationing at a chalet in the village of Les Combes in the Valle d’Aosta region near the French border since Monday.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, also spent several summers at Les Combes. While John Paul liked to hike, Benedict spends most of his time inside the chalet that looks out on Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps.

Benedict has spent two summers at Les Combes. He said upon arrival that he expected to rest and work during his vacation.