Pope Benedict returns to Italy

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Pope Benedict on Thursday (March 29) arrived back at the Vatican after a busy six-day trip to Mexico and Cuba.

The papal plane touched down at Rome's Ciampino airport around 0830gmt.

The pontiff, who is frail and moves slowly, was welcomed by Italian Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri and high ranking church officials.

In a trip laced with calls for change in Cuba, his last message was aimed at the United States, its long-time ideological foe, which for 50 years has imposed a trade embargo trying to topple the Caribbean island's communist government.

Ending his trip in Havana, Benedict called for an end to the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and met with revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.