Pope Benedict XVI taken to hospital after breaking wrist in fall

The Pope, 82, was able to walk to the the casualty department of the Parini hospital in Aosta after arriving with his private secretary, Mgr Georg Ganswein, just before 10am on Friday.

Vatican officials were quick to say the incident was "not serious" and that the Pope was being checked purely as a precaution and was having an X-ray on his wrist and ankle.

The pontiff has been staying at a house in the village of Les Combes in the Valle d'Aosta region. It was a favourite vacation spot for his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. The pope will stay in the Alpine retreat near the border with France and Switzerland until July 29.

This is the first major health scare for Pope Benedict since he was elected leader of the Roman Catholic Church in April 2005 - although it is not the first time he has slipped. Earlier this year at a ceremony he tripped as he left the altar at the end of a service but he managed to right himself and avoid falling to the floor.

Except for an occasional cough, though, the Pope appears healthy and robust and in five years has never skipped a planned event for health reasons.