Pope Benedict XVI meets with Cuban President Raul Castro. Pope Benedict is only the second pope to visit this Caribbean island nation.

Castro and the pontiff held an hour-long private meeting at the Council of State and Ministers, which the Vatican later described as "significant".

The Pope reportedly asked the Cuban president to recognise Good Friday as a holiday.

Years earlier, his predecessor John Paul II had petitioned Cuba to recognise Christmas Day as a national holiday.

On Tuesday, thousands turned out to attend a mass in Santiago de Cuba held by the Pope.

He is due to give a second open-air mass in Havana's vast Revolution Square before heading back to Rome.

Simon Hanna, Reuters.