Pope Francis highlighted releases from prison in Cuba during the Jubilee

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 20 (ACN) Pope Francis stressed today the importance of the Cuban government's decision to free 553 prisoners condemned for various causes, in the framework of the Jubilee of the Catholic Church that takes place during 2025, Prensa Latina reported in a dispatch from Vatican City.

In his words after the Angelus prayer, pronounced at noon on Sunday from the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Supreme Pontiff said, in reference to this fact, that "it is a gesture of great hope that concretizes one of the intentions of this Jubilee Year".

I hope that in the coming months we will continue undertaking initiatives of this kind in different parts of the world, which will instill confidence in the journey of individuals and peoples," said the Bishop of Rome before thousands of faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.

On January 15, in a statement published on the website of Vatican News, the information portal of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Holy See highlighted the announcement by the Cuban government of the release of more than 500 prisoners, following a process with the participation of the Vatican.

In early January, Vatican News reported, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel addressed a letter to Pope Francis, "communicating to him the decision to grant freedom to 553 people punished for various crimes."

The report quotes a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean nation, where it is pointed out that "as in the past, His Holiness has been informed about the review and release of persons deprived of their freedom".

It is, according to the document issued by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, a "practice that is common in our justice system and that has characterized the humanitarian trajectory of the Revolution.

In Cuba, the Vatican newspaper noted, "more than 10,000 people punished with deprivation of liberty were released from prison between 2023 and 2024, with various types of benefits provided by law".

Last January 16, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Pietro Parolin, expressed that "it is significant that the authorities of Havana have directly linked this decision to the appeal of Pope Francis, who in the Bull of convocation of the Jubilee, and then on several other occasions, asked for gestures of clemency".