Mitchell Reports   |  March 23, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI to visit Cuba

NBC’s Mark Potter previews the preparations underway for the visit.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>> in mexico later today . on monday he'll be traveling to cuba . i'll be there covering the pontiff's meeting with raul and fidel castro . on his plane today, the pope told reporters "communism no longer works in cuba ." that is going to be upsetting news to cuba 's leaders who are hoping the church's opposition to the u.s. trade embargo will promote cuba 's interest in that dispute. mark potter is in havana . what are the cubans saying about the pontiff's visit?

>> reporter: hi there, andrea. the preparations are under way. they're setting up the stages working out the security. clearing venues where he will speak. they are expecting large crowds to visit him both in havana and santiago. employers are urnged to let people off. so they are expecting large, large crowds here. this is being described as a pastoral visit where he will come here to speak on behalf of the cuban church, talk about faith and human dignity . human rights activists are urging him to talk more where political rights and religious freedoms. but the vatican has already said that he will not be meeting with disden disdenies -- discy dents here. 14 years ago, pope john paul ii was here when the world was different and when we had a much different pontiff in terms of personality, andrea.

>> and all of that, thank you, mark. i'll be seeing you there. it looks absolutely beautiful in havana today.