President Joe Biden notified Congress of his intent to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Axar.az reports that citing Associated Press.

The White House announced that this decision is part of a deal facilitated by the Catholic Church to free political prisoners on the island.

The Cuban foreign ministry on Tuesday said that the government informed Pope Francis it will release 553 people who had been convicted of different crimes. It said that they will be gradually released, as the authorities analyze the legal and humanitarian ways to make it happen.

However the foreign ministry didn’t link the release of the prisoners to the US decision of lifting the designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, but “in the spirit of the Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025 declared by His Holiness.”