Exchanging gifts and meeting for 50 minutes inside Havana's Palace of the Revolution, the Pope and Castro walked side by side on a historic day in which John Paul despaired over Cubans' easy access to abortion and the country's shuttered Catholic schools. It was the second meeting in 14 months between two elderly leaders of movements that have often been on a collision course.
Castro called their private session a meeting between ``two angels who are friends of the poor.'' The Pope called it, simply, a conversation between ``two men.'' By agreement of both sides, no details of the meeting were released.
The Vatican announced later that Cuba had agreed to consider releasing some prisoners. Requests from Cuban prisoners to John Paul, asking him to press for an ``act of clemency,'' were put forward by the Vatican's secretary of state in separate talks, said papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
The Cuban government ``received them with great attention'' because of their humanitarian character, Navarro-Valls said. He did not say how many prisoners or whether they are among the nearly 500 political prisoners Cuban dissidents say are being held.
On the first papal visit ever to this island nation, John Paul chose to focus yesterday on abortion, a practice that is legal and widespread in Cuba. The procedure is performed free of charge and is available on demand, leaving Cuba with one of the world's highest abortion rates - at one point in recent years one abortion for every live birth.
GOVERNMENT CAMPAIGN Cuban officials say that rate has been cut in half following a government campaign to discourage abortions.
