Cuban Vice President Marino Murillo has brushed off Pope Benedict the 16th’s call on Cuba to embrace political reform and create a more open society.

The pontiff urged Cuba to “build a renewed, better society, one more worthy of humanity” at the start of his visit to the country on Monday.

The Cuban vice president said in a news conference that there will be no political reforms in Cuba. He added that the Cuban government’s job is to upgrade the Cuban economic model and make the country’s own form of socialism more sustainable for the well-being of the nation's people.

Murillo is in charge of carrying out economic reforms ordered by Cuban President Raul Castro.