In honor of a visit from Pope Francis next week, Cuba will show generosity of spirit by releasing 3,500 prisoners from jail, according to The Wall Street Journal.

However, it says those found guilty of crimes against state security will not be eligible, raising concerns that several high-profile political prisoners will remain incarcerated.

In Cuba, he will visit Havana, the northeastern city of Holguin and Santiago de Cuba on the southeastern end of the island.

The release will take place over three days, and it isn’t the first time Cuba has done something like this.

More recently, Cuba released 53 political prisoners in conjunction with the 17 December announcement of detente with United States.

In return for its support, the church has been given greater access to the state media, and is allowed to distribute its publications within the island.

The decision is due to be effective within 72 hours. The country let prisoners free when Pope John Paul II visited in 1998 and Pope Benedict came for a visit in 2012.

The statement also said prisoners convicted of murder, homicide, rape, sexual abuse of children, drug trafficking or the illegal killing of state-owned cattle were ineligible for pardons.

Pope’s Francis’ visit this month is part of steadily improving relations between Cuba and the Catholic Church after decades of strained ties in the years after the 1959 Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro.

There was no immediate indication whether those to be pardoned included people considered political prisoners by dissidents or human rights organizations.

In 2010, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the head of the Cuban church, played a key mediating role in the release of about 130 jailed dissidents, opening a dialogue that has continued ever since.