Officials from Rome's Bioparco zoo presented the 84-year-old pontiff with the young croc at the end of Wednesday's audience. Zoo official Yitzhak Yadid held the iguana-sized reptile in his hands as Benedict looked on.
The Cuban crocodile, or Crocodylus rhombifer, has seen its numbers fall by 80 percent in recent years and currently only survives in Cuba's Zapata Swamp and the swamps of the Island of Youth. It is classified as endangered by the U.N. convention on endangered species.
The croc who attended the papal audience will be returned to Cuba in March, coinciding with Benedict's planned trip to the island.
