The Holy See said it had also been informed by the Cuban
government that a further "significant number of detainees''
would be released on humanitarian grounds.
"(The Vatican) is delighted with this notable step which
represents a concrete prospect of hope for the future of this
noble nation,'' it said in a communique.
Cuban dissidents say about 500 prisoners of conscience are
held in Cuban jails.
During the pope's Jan. 21-25 visit, Vatican officials handed
the Cuban government a list of more than 200 prisoners, some of
them political, with a request for clemency.
"(The Vatican) has been informed that the Cuban government
has freed a certain number of detainees as an act of clemency
and goodwill to mark the visit of Pope John Paul to Cuba,'' the
Vatican communique said.
"The pardon involves some tens of people whose names appear
on a list given to the Cuban authorities on January 22 in the
name of the Holy Father...other release requests are still being
considered by the authorities,'' the communique said.
While no exact figures were given in the communique, a
spokesman for the Havana archbishop's office said last month
after the pope's visit that the Vatican list had more than 200
names on it.
The Vatican communique said the other releases being
considered by Havana involved prisoners not included on the
Vatican list.
During the pope's visit, Cuban government authorities
assured the Vatican that it was studying the request and would
provide a quick response.
A U.S. group opposed to the United States embargo against
Cuba relating to food and medical supplies welcomed the news of
the detainees' release, saying the Pope's visit showed positive
engagement could encourage positive change.
"This is a very significant and positive step that should
lead to substantial progress toward rolling back the inhumane
embargo on the sales of U.S.-produced food and medical supplies
to Cuba,'' Americans for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba said in a
statement from New York faxed to Reuters in Rome.
There was no immediate reaction to the detainees' release
from the U.S. government.
While calling for an end to what he called "the
oppressive'' 35-year U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, the pope
also urged greater religious freedom and human rights on the
island which Castro has ruled since 1959.
In his outspoken criticism of the island's communist rule,
he directly appealed for prisoners of conscience to be freed
from jail saying it would be a "gesture of high humanity and a
seed of reconciliation.''
"These prisoners of conscience suffer an isolation and a
penalty for something for which their own conscience does not
condemn them,'' he said in a homily in a hospital church on the
outskirts of Havana. "I encourage efforts to re-insert
prisoners into society.''
He also made a plea to the prisoners themselves for ideas
that, though dissident, were nonetheless peaceful.
"What they want is to participate actively in life with the
opportunity to speak their mind with respect and tolerance,'' he
said in his homily.
Leading Cuban dissident and human rights campaigner Elizardo
Sanchez predicted last month that Castro would respond to the
appeal but said the world should not expect "miraculous
overnight changes'' in Cuba's human rights record.
He said that the pope's trip, nevertheless, may help speed a
process begun two years ago of releasing political prisoners,
whose numbers have already halved from 1,000 then to 500 now.