Pope meets Raul Castro in Havana.

Pope Benedict has met Cuban President Raul Castro on the second day of his visit to the communist-run island, BBC reported.

Meanwhile, former President Fidel Castro has written that he is "happy" to meet the pope, in an article on the government's website.

After arriving in the capital, Havana, the pope told a crowd he prayed for a Cuba "advancing along the ways of renewal and hope."

Cuban officials have insisted that political reform is not on the agenda.

Marino Murillo, one of Castro's vice-presidents and the "economics czar" in charge of liberalisation, told journalists the government was updating the Cuban economic model to make socialism sustainable.

"There will be no political reform in Cuba," he said.

The pope's visit marks the 400th anniversary of the discovery of a statue of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre - also known as the Mambisa Virgin - which was found floating in a bay by fishermen. It was revered by Cuba's independence heroes.