After Pope Criticizes Marxism, Cuba Diplomatic Cuba will listen with respect to Pope Benedict XVI during his visit next week even if he differs with island leaders, the country's foreign minister said Friday after the pontiff described Marxism as out of step with the times. Benedict made the comment to reporters during his long flight to Mexico, the first stop in his six-day tour. While it was in keeping with the Vatican's position, it was an unexpectedly blunt statement to come just days before he will be on Cuban soil. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez avoided any clash over the statement. We consider the exchange of ideas to be useful. Our people have deep convictions developed over the course of our history," Rodriguez said at a news conference. Cuba will listen with all respect to his holiness. He added that the Cuban system "is a democratic social project, genuinely chosen, which is constantly perfecting itself." Benedict said it is "evident that Marxist ideology as it was conceived no longer responds to reality," and exhorted Cubans to "find new models, with patience, and in a constructive way." Asked about reports of harassment and detention of dissidents on the island, Benedict said the church wants "to help in the spirit of dialogue to avoid trauma and to help bring about a just and fraternal society." Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks during the inauguration of the press center set up for journalists covering the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI at the National Hotel in Havana, Cuba, Friday March 23, 2012. Pope Benedict XVI arrives to Mexico on Friday and will then travels to Cuba on Monday. Benedict's comments were as bold as any his predecessor, John Paul II, made during his historic 1998 tour of Cuba. But they stopped short of directly challenging the country's single-party political model, which has been in place for five decades. Benedict arrives Monday in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. Robert A. Pastor, a professor of international relations at American University and former national security adviser for Latin America during the Carter administration, said Benedict's words seemed calculated to initiate a dialogue about political change while giving the Cubans space to maneuver by underscoring the importance of gradualism. "He placed himself on the side of freedom, but not necessarily in a manner that would put the Cuban regime on the defensive," Pastor said. They will not be excited by this. They won't be happy with it. But I think they have to be realistic enough to understand that the pope could say nothing less. President Raul Castro has initiated a slate of economic reforms in recent years permitting more private-sector activity on the communist-run island where the state has long controlled nearly the entire economy. Many Cubans have opened small businesses and are farming previously state-held land. It is now legal for all islanders to buy and sell homes and cars. Rodriguez emphasized areas of common ground between Havana and the Vatican, such as opposition to "the oppression of finances, opposition to treatment of human beings as if they were animals of consumption." "The most important message to get from this exchange is that it's good that the pope is going," Pastor said. And it's good that he's doing so in a manner that gives the Cuban regime some room to change instead of be defiant. Reaction to Benedict's comments in South Florida, where some Cuban-Americans have criticized the pontiff's trip, was mixed.