A young boy cried as Pope Benedict XVI greeted him in a hospital near the Vatican, who he mistook for a doctor because of his long white robe.

"It's the white," a nurse explained to the Pope. "He can't take anymore of these white coats."

The Pope was on his first official visit at the cardiology ward of the Bambino Gesu (Baby Jesus) hospital near the Vatican.

One little girl, Fabiola, wrote a note and drawing for the Pope's visit saying: "Pray for me so that I don't have to have any more transfusions and so I can go back to the playground with my friend Simone."

The Bambino Gesu, known as one of Europe's most technologically advanced hospitals, was first opened in 1869 with just 12 beds as Italy's first children's hospital. It was later donated to the Vatican in 1924.