Vatican: Pope spends calm night after breaking wrist, learns to cope with cast

Vatican: Pope learning to cope with cast

LES COMBES, Italy — The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI spent a calm night after breaking his wrist in his Alpine vacation chalet and is learning to cope with the cast on his right arm.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that Benedict would stick to his schedule of public appearances, including the traditional Angelus prayer on Sunday.

The 82-year-old Benedict had surgery at the hospital of the nearby town of Aosta on Friday to set his right wrist, fractured when he fell overnight in the chalet that hosts him in the mountain village of Les Combes.

The right-handed pope will have to keep the cast for a month. Lombardi said the toughest part for Benedict was giving up writing by hand, which he intended to do often during his vacation.