Pope leaves hospital after breaking wrist

Pope Benedict XVI has left the hospital where he underwent surgery after breaking his right wrist in a fall in his Alpine vacation chalet.

The 82-year-old smiled broadly and waved to the crowd with his left hand as he climbed into his car outside the hospital in the north-western 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.