Pope Can't Pray With Broken Wrist
Injury delays book progress, too
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pope Benedict XVI has to wear a plaster cast after falling in his bedroom while vacationing in the Alps.
The Pope's broken wrist is getting in the way of some everyday tasks for the Vatican's No. 1 -- like putting his hands together to pray.
Pope Benedict XVI, whose wrist is encased in plaster, couldn't clasp his hands together to pray during mass on Saturday, the AFP reported.
The pontiff told Vatican spokesman Frederico Lombardi "some suffering is not a bad thing."
"What pains him the most is to be no longer able to bless with his right hand and to be no longer able to clasp his hands together" in prayer, the spokesman told AFP.
The 82-year-old Pope broke his wrist after falling in his bedroom while on vacation in the Alps on Friday. He had two metal pins inserted in the wrist and was fitted with a plaster cast.
Despite the injury, the pontiff, still in the Alps until July 29, will keep to his planned schedule.
Sunday night he plans to fly to the nearby town of Romano Canavese to recite prayers to an expected crowd of 10,000. The only plans on hold due to his injury are any writing-related tasks, including the completion of his book -- a follow-up to his 2007, "Jesus of Nazareth."
"He is learning to live with a right wrist in plaster," Lombardi said. "The most difficult thing for him is having to give up writing."
Once the injury heals, the right-handed leader should be able to complete his book quickly.
"The pope already had the text's structure outlined in his head," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State told The AFP.
His doctor's report that the Pope remains in good health.
Posted Sunday, Jul 19, 2009 - 10:59 AM CST
