Pope had few health problems since assuming papacy

Pope Benedict XVI waves from his car as he leaves the Regional Hospital in Aosta, Italy, Friday, July 17, 2009, after surgery on his right wrist. The pope broke his right wrist during a late-night fall in his Alpine vacation chalet and will have to have his arm in a cast for a month while recovering from surgery, doctors said Friday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Despite his age and a history of serious medical problems, Pope Benedict XVI has been remarkably healthy during his four-year pontificate. He has kept to a busy schedule and traveled around the world.

Until breaking his right wrist in a fall in his vacation chalet in the Italian Alps on Friday, there have been no reported medical problems since he assumed the papacy in 2005.

"His general conditions are good," said his personal physician, Dr. Patrizio Polisca, in a Vatican medical bulletin issued after Benedict underwent surgery on his broken wrist.

Benedict,who turned 82 in April, said in a rare interview to German media in 2006 that "I've never felt strong enough to plan many long trips."

Since then, however, he has traveled to Australia, the United States, Brazil and most recently to two sub-Saharan African countries among his 12 foreign pilgrimages. While looking tired at times, he has always bounced back.

The most serious issue in his medical record was a hemorrhagic stroke he acknowledged suffering in 1991 that temporarily affected his vision, as well as a fall that knocked him unconscious in 1992. He has said he recovered without permanent damage from each incident.

Doctors in Aosta, Italy, where was treated after the latest fall, took care emphasizing that the fall was accidental and not the result of a sudden illness.

And Dr. Amedeo Mancini, the orthopedic surgeon who performed Friday's operation, said the pope would suffer no long-term effects from the fracture, and would be able to write and play the piano once the wrist heals. He said Benedict was an excellent patient.

It came as a surprise that Benedict chose this region near France for his vacation, moving from Bressanone in the Alps near Austria, where he stayed last year. The mountain trails are steep in Aosta, and Benedict is known to prefer a flatter landscape where he can pursue leisurely walks.

His predecessor, the late John Paul II, went on taxing mountain hikes in summer and skied in the winter before he was slowed down by Parkinson's disease.

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