Pope Benedict arrives in Cuba.<br/> <br />President Raul Castro welcomes the Pontiff for a three-day visit that will include two open-air masses.<br/> <br />In Santiago de Cuba, residents are making sure that everything is in order.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SANTIAGO RESIDENT WALTER CARBONEL SAYING:<br/> <br />"Our ready and beautiful city is waiting for the pontiff and everything has been prepared for him with much love,"<br/> <br />The Pope comes to Cuba at a time when Church-state relations have warmed after decades of hostility that followed the island's 1959 revolution.<br/> <br />Though weakened after more than half a century of communist rule, the Church remains the largest and most socially influential institution outside of the government in Cuba.<br/> <br />But Benedict fired an unexpected salvo on Friday when he told reporters that communism on the Caribbean island had failed and a new economic model was needed, adding that the Church was willing to offer its help "to avoid traumas."<br/> <br />Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.
