Pope Francis "very much wants" the Cuban regime to release political prisoners, according to papal envoy

Cardinal Beniamino Stella, an envoy of Pope Francis to Havana, called this Wednesday for the release of the political prisoners who participated in the historic July 11, 2021 anti-regime protests.

"The Pope very much wants there to be a positive response [from the Cuban regime]... It is important that the young people who at one point expressed their thoughts in the way we all know can return to their homes," the cardinal said in statements to the media, the EFE news agency reported.

He added it is secondary that his request be classified as an amnesty or clemency, because "words can also be irrelevant."

Stella said that during his visit to Cuba, where he recalled the trip that the then Pope John Paul II made to the country 25 years ago, he was able to convey to the Cuban authorities this "desire" of the Catholic Church. The cardinal also expressed that he hopes that, from the "useful and positive moment" that his visit has brought about, "new things will emerge for the Cuban people."

In a speech delivered at the University of Havana before the Cuban ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel, the cardinal also stated that "freedom cannot be subordinated to any calculation of interests, circumstances, waiting for better times."

Cuba "must be free of all interference," he said, but it must encourage "its children to be free men and women." He also stressed that freedom leads to material and spiritual growth.

The number of verified arrests in the context of the anti-government protests in July 2021 amounts to at least 1,540 people arrested, according to the human rights group Justicia 11J.

"In recent days, we have incorporated 13 new names of people detained in the context of 11J, for a total of 1,540," the organization explained on its social networks. "Of them, 675 remain in detention, and 730 have been tried," they specified last week.