Pope Francis took off from Rome's Fiumicino airport for Cuba on Saturday, for the first leg of a trip which will also take him to the United States. The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics will become the third pope to have touched down in communist Cuba in less than two decades. This visit will have added significance as it comes in the aftermath of a historic Cuba-US rapprochement which has allowed diplomatic relations to be restored thanks to secret contacts that Francis, the first pope from Latin America, helped to facilitate. Cuban leader Raul Castro will be at Havana airport to greet him and Francis is expected to also meet Raul's predecessor and brother Fidel during his three-night stop on the Caribbean island.