BBC News with Marion Marshall

The Vatican says Pope Benedict has met the former President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, who led the 1959 revolution which made Cuba officially

atheist

. The meeting between the Pope and Mr Castro was described by the Vatican as "animated and cordial". Earlier, up to 300,000 people attended a Mass celebrated in Revolution Square in Havana, from where Sarah Rainsford reports.

Pope Benedict was greeted in Revolution Square by a vast crowd shouting and waving as he toured the plaza in his Popemobile. There were groups of Catholics from their parishes, plenty of Cubans just curious and others, including students who said they had been told to be there. He used his

homily

during Mass to deliver what's become the theme of this visit, urging Cuba along the path to renewal and change. The Pope praised progress on freedom of religion here, but he called for more, including religious teaching in universities and schools.

The United States says President Assad of Syria has already

reneged on

his promise to accept the UN-Arab League peace plan. Yesterday, Damascus said it approved the plan, but the State Department spokeswoman in Washington, Victoria Nuland, said no action had been taken.

"Certainly we have not seen the promises that Assad made implemented. The joint special envoy is continuing his work; his technical team continues its work in Syria. We will have the Friends of the Syrian People meeting this weekend. So it's