Pope Benedict met with Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro after saying mass in Havana, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
The meeting comes towards the close of the pope's three-day visit to the Communist-run island, during which the pontiff has called for greater freedoms, and a bigger role for the Roman Catholic Church in Cuban society.
Earlier today, the Pope called on Cubans to search for "authentic freedom" as their country changes and pressed the island's communist government to give the Catholic Church more liberties, including the right to teach religion in schools and run universities.
The Pope (84) celebrated an open-air Mass for some 300,000 people in Havana's Revolution Square, the centrepiece of a trip that began with criticism of communism and will end with a visit with Fidel Castro.
Crowds began gathering during the night to hear the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics speak in the sprawling plaza that Castro (85) used to fill with big crowds and fiery revolutionary rhetoric in hours-long speeches.
Surrounded by ten-story high images of Castro's revolutionary comrades Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, the pontiff read a sermon that continued one of the main themes of his trip - that Cuba should build a more open society, based on truth, justice and reconciliation.
"The truth is a desire of the human person, the search for which always supposes the exercise of authentic freedom," he said. In an apparent reference to Marxism, the Pope also said some "wrongly interpret this search for the truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism; they close themselves in 'their truth' and try to impose it on others".
Pope Benedict, wearing purple vestments, read out a list of rights the church still lacked in Cuba as President Raul Castro, Fidel's younger brother, sat in the front row. Both of the Castro brothers were educated by Jesuits, the worldwide Catholic order.
"To carry out this duty, she must count on basic religious freedom, which consists in her being able to proclaim and to celebrate her faith also in public, bringing to others the message of love, reconciliation and peace which Jesus brought to the world," he said.
While Benedict acknowledged "with joy" the great improvements since Pope John Paul's visit, he added: "Nonetheless, this must continue forwards, and I wish to encourage the country's government authorities to strengthen what has already been achieved and advance along this path of genuine service to the true good of Cuban society as a whole."
The faithful could be "at once a citizen and a believer", the Pope assured the government, adding that strengthening religious freedom consolidates social bonds and lays the groundwork for securing the rights of future generations."This is why the Church seeks to give witness by her
preaching and teaching, both in catechesis and in schools and universities," he said.
In talks yesterday with president Raul Castro, the younger brother of Fidel Castro, he urged a bigger role for the church and asked that the government consider making Good Friday, the day Christians commemorate Christ's death, a national holiday.
Fidel Castro reinstated Christmas as a holiday ahead of the landmark visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998 that helped improve long-strained church-state relations.
The Vatican also said it made several "humanitarian requests," without giving details but possibly having to do with political prisoners or jailed American contractor Alan Gross, who is serving a 15-year sentence for illegally installing Internet networks on the communist-run island.
Fidel Castro said yesterday in one of his columns, or "Reflections", published on the internet that he would meet briefly with the German pope before he returns to Rome.
"With pleasure, I will greet His Excellency Pope Benedict XVI as I did with John Paul II," wrote Mr Castro, who is now mostly retired but still occasionally writes columns and meets with visiting leaders.
Reuters