Pope Benedict XVI in hospital for check-up after fall

Pope Benedict XVI was taken on Friday to a hospital in the northwestern Italian town of Aosta for a check-up after he fell while on holiday in the Italian Alps, the Vatican's spokesman said.

Pope Benedict XVI was taken on Friday to a hospital in the northwestern Italian town of Aosta for a check-up after he fell while on holiday in the Italian Alps, the Vatican's spokesman said.

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"It is nothing serious," the spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

No further details were immediately available.

The 82-year-old Benedict, accompanied by an aide, walked into the Parini hospital after arriving in a car from the nearby town of Les Combes di Introd, the ANSA news agency reported.

The pontiff arrived on Monday in Les Combes di Introd to begin a two-week holiday in a local chalet .

He is scheduled to return to Rome on July 29.