CASTEL GANDOLFO - Doctors on Friday took the plaster off the wrist of Pope Benedict XVI that he broke in a fall last month, his personal physician said.

The 82-year-old pope has been recovering at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo near Rome. His doctor, Patrizio Polisca, said in a statement that an x-ray had shown the "consolidation of the fracture".

The doctor said that the pope would have to undergo therapy and special exercises to get the full use of his wrist back.

Benedict fell in his room on July 17 while on holiday in the Italian Alps and had to undergo an operation on the fractured wrist.