- NEW: Castro: "I will gladly meet" with the pope
- NEW: The former leader called the pople a man who has "raised feelings of affection"
- The pope is on a two-country tour that has also taken him to Mexico
- He will celebrate Mass in the Cuban capital
Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro says he has asked for a "modest and simple" meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Havana on Wednesday.
"I will gladly meet tomorrow morning His Excellency, the Pope, as I did when John Paul II visited," Castro wrote Tuesday in the official Cubadebate website.
Castro, who stepped down from power in 2006 due to illness, called the pope "a man whose contact with children and humble members of society has, invariably, raised feelings of affection."
In Havana, the pope will also celebrate Mass in the Cuban capital's Revolution Plaza.
Pope Benedict XVI meets with Raul Castro 
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Cuba His visit comes 14 years after Pope John Paul II addressed throngs of onlookers in the historic first papal visit to the island nation in 1998.
Cuba is Pope Benedict XVI's second stop on a tour that has also taken him to Mexico. He has used the trip to not only spread the faith but to address political issues -- at times subtly, and on occasions overtly.
In Mexico, he denounced the violence-plagued drug wars. In Cuba, he prayed "for those deprived of freedom."
Last week, while on a plane from Rome to Mexico, the pontiff also said he believes that Cuba's Marxist political system "no longer corresponds to reality."
A top Cuban government official responded to the pope'sTuesday, saying his country's system is sustainable and that it will not change.
"In Cuba, there will not be political reform," said Marino Murillo, vice president of the island's council of ministers.
Tuesday evening, the pope met with Cuban President Raul Castro, both privately and publicly.
Raul Castro took over the reins when his older brother, Fidel, stepped down six years ago.
Havana officials, meanwhile, have planned for the pontiff's arrival by painting buildings and tacking posters across the city. They have also taken additional security measures around the capital.
Benedict, 84, arrived in Santiago de Cuba on Monday. He later headed to the city's Basilica del Cobre where he prayed in front of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, a wooden statue considered to be the shrine of the island's patron saint.
CNN's Marilia Brocchetto contributed to this report.
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