Pope presses Cuba for reforms

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba in the footsteps of his more famous predecessor, gently pressing the island’s long-time communist leaders to push through “legitimate” reforms their people desire.

In contrast to the raucous welcome Benedict received in Mexico, his arrival in Cuba’s second city of Santiago was relatively subdued. President Raul Castro greeted him at the airport with a 21-cannon salute and a goose-stepping military honour guard, but few ordinary Cubans lined the motorcade route into town and the Pope barely waved from his glassed-in vehicle.