Cuban government announces release of 553 prisoners through mediation of Pope Francis

CNA – The Cuban government announced the release of 553 prisoners through the mediation of Pope Francis “in the spirit of the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025.”

“President [Miguel] Díaz-Canel sent a letter to the supreme pontiff in which, in the spirit of the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 declared by His Holiness and which has just begun, he communicated the decision to benefit by granting freedom to 553 people sanctioned in due process for various crimes established by law … [These people] will receive their respective benefits gradually,” the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement dated Jan. 14.

Cuba’s statement refers to Pope Francis’ call to release prisoners during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, which began on Dec. 24, 2024, at the Vatican.

In the bull Spes Non Confundit, with which he convoked the jubilee year, the pope proposed that “governments undertake initiatives aimed at restoring hope, forms of amnesty or pardon meant to help individuals regain confidence in themselves and in society.”

The Cuban Foreign Ministry’s statement notes that “as part of the close and smooth relations with the Vatican state, the Cuban government has maintained communication with Pope Francis and his representatives and, as in the past, has informed His Holiness about processes of review and release of persons deprived of liberty,” which has led, according to the statement, to the release of “more than 10,000 people sentenced to deprivation of liberty” between 2023 and 2024.

The statement also recalls a meeting in June 2023 between Díaz-Canel and Pope Francis, preceded by another with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla in August 2022.

ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contacted Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican Press Office, to request a statement on the Cuban government’s announcement but had not received a response by the time of publication of this article.

Almudena Martínez-Bordiú, ACI Prensa correspondent in Europe, contributed to this article.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA