POPE Benedict XVI has arrived in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) today, where he knelt down at the Apostle's feet in the city's famous cathedral and lamented Spain's paganism.

The Pontiff was met by Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Asturias at Lavacolla airport after travelling from Rome via Alitalia.

Also there to greet the head of the Vatican state was Spain's vice-president, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba; Galicia's regional president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo; minister of justice Francisco Caamaño and minister of public works, José Blanco.

Benedict XVI told journalists on board his flight that Spain 'needs to be re-evangelised' and slammed the 'lively confrontation' between 'faith and modernity' in the country.

He claims that in Spain 'a new secularism has been born', such that 'has not been seen since the 1930s'.

This afternoon, the Pope gave mass in the Obradoiro square at 16.30hrs.