Pope’s Call to Free Prisoners Weighed

Cuba is seriously considering Pope John Paul II’s appeal to free some prisoners, National Assembly Speaker Ricardo Alarcon said, suggesting that there could be sentence reductions or early releases on humanitarian grounds. “The request will be considered in all seriousness, above all given the way in which it was made and who made it,” Alarcon said in comments carried by the state-run news agency. John Paul made the call for Cuba to release its “prisoners of conscience” in one of the bluntest political messages of his five-day visit to Cuba.