In 1998 Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, prompting outsiders to await a political opening of the kind that brought down communism in his native Poland. Sadly, even two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Cuba remains one of the hand ful of countries around the world where communism lives on. Illness forced Fidel Castro to step down in 2006, but his slightly younger brother, Raul, is in charge, flanked by a cohort of elderly Stalinists. When Pope Benedict XVI visits the island next week, expectations will be more muted.
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机译：1998年，教皇约翰·保罗二世（John Paul II）访问古巴，促使局外人等待政治开放，这种政治开放降低了他的祖国波兰的共产主义。令人遗憾的是，即使在柏林墙倒塌后的二十年里，古巴仍然是世界上共产主义赖以生存的少数国家之一。疾病迫使菲德尔·卡斯特罗（Fidel Castro）在2006年辞职，但他的小弟弟劳尔（Raul）掌管着，旁边是一群年迈的斯大林主义者。当教宗本笃十六世下周访问该岛时，人们的期望将会更加低落。
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