Chicago cardinal falls blessing Easter baskets

CHICAGO -- Cardinal Francis George fractured a hip Saturday after he slipped and fell on the marble floor of a church while blessing Easter baskets, according to an archdiocese spokesman.

George, 70, was hospitalized at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he will remain for several days as a result of the mishap at Saint Ferdinand's Parish on Chicago's Northwest Side, said Archdiocese spokeswoman Colleen Dolan.

"He'll use a walker for probably a week so he doesn't put pressure on it while he heals," she said. "The most important message is that he's fine."

Dolan said George's injury won't require surgery, but he will need physical therapy.

Because he suffered from polio as a child, George wears a brace on his right leg that causes him to fall occasionally, Dolan said.

Video footage of the Mass showed George receiving applause after being helped back to the altar. He continued the service before being taken to the hospital by an aide when the pain in his right hip became severe, and he had trouble walking, according to the archdiocese.

"This is not an unusual occurrence for me to fall," George said during the Mass. "I fall many times in the course of a year."

The Roman Catholic archbishop is one of the most prominent U.S. cardinals and the spiritual leader of more than 2.3 million Catholics in the Chicago area.