Pope Benedict XVI has left the hospital where he underwent surgery after breaking his right wrist in a fall in his Alpine vacation chalet. Benedict, 82, smiled broadly and waved to the crowd with his left hand as he climbed into his car outside the hospital in the northwestern Italian town of Aosta. His right arm hung by his side, the cast hidden by his white vestments.
Surgeons performed a 20-minute operation today to reduce the fracture, a procedure to realign the broken bone fragments. The surgery was performed under local anesthesia. A Vatican statement said the pope fell in his room in a nearby chalet overnight and despite the accident, celebrated Mass and had breakfast before going to the hospital.
