Pope Benedict XVI underwent surgery to replace the batteries in his pacemaker three months before announcing the first papal resignation for nearly 600 years, the Vatican has confirmed.
Responding to a report in the Italian press that said the operation had been carried out in great secrecy at the Pius XI clinic in Rome, the Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the surgery had been routine and unconnected to Benedict's decision to step down.
It was reportedly the first official acknowledgement that the 85-year-old pontiff has a pacemaker, a fact already known to some Vatican observers.
Lombardi insisted, as he did on Monday, that the pope's shock resignation had not been prompted by any specific illness. Benedict had had the pacemaker ever since he was a cardinal, he added.
"It was a routine replacement of the batteries," Lombardi said, declining to give a date for the operation, which took place just under three months ago. "It is absolutely not a relevant procedure."
In a front-page report, the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore said the pope had recovered sufficiently well from the operation to be able to deliver his Sunday service the day after. But, it claimed, the surgery had given him pause for thought over whether or not he could continue.
A day after his shock announcement, the pope was said to be preparing for his engagements over the next few days. He has changed his plans for Ash Wednesday, shifting a scheduled visit to a church on the Aventine hill to St Peter's to accommodate the crowds of people expected to greet him.
Despite having no vote in the conclave due to begin next month to choose his successor, there has been speculation that Benedict may try to exert influence over the process. The Vatican insisted, however, that he would play no role in the selection of the 266th pope. "He will not interfere in any way," Lombardi told journalists.
Rejecting concern over how Benedict, whose future title is still unclear, would fit alongside his successor, Lombardi added: "The pope has said in his declaration that he will use his time for prayer and reflection, and will not have any responsibility for guidance of the church or any administrative or government responsibility. This is absolutely clear and this is the sense of the resignation."