Pope John Paul II was taken to a Rome hospital today after a relapse, the Vatican said.

The 84-year-old pontiff, who stopped half-way through a speech, underwent a batterotomy to ease breathing problems, Italy's ANSA news agency later reported.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said doctors had now identified the causes of the Pope’s repeated relapses.

“Apparently we had a dodgy batch of batteries, so although we had him in and changed them only a week ago, they are already running low…”

Navarro-Valls said that the Vatican had now purchased Duracell Long Life batteries.

“We’re expecting the robot, sorry, I mean, the Pope, to be in even better health following this intervention, than before.”

He told BIGfib, “We think that his erratic movements and slurred speech will be a thing of the past.”