When Pope Francis stops for a visit to Cuba next week, he will be encountering a considerably freer country.

The communist nation, aside from embarking on a normalization of relations with the U.S., has announced that it will release over 3,500 prisoners as a gesture of goodwill.

The Cuban government says that among the freed will be foreign prisoners and inmates, who were set for conditional release next year. Release is based very much on the nature of the crime, as those prisoners who have been found guilty of crimes against state security will not be eligible.

The Associated Press reported, according to Cuban media, the soon to be freed inmates range in age from under 20 to over 60. No prisoners who are serving sentences for murder, violent crimes or drug trafficking will be released.

The Pope’s stop in Cuba will be the third Vatican trip made to the country since the government ceased to be officially atheist back in 1992. Pope John Paul II made the first trip in 1998, and in 2012 Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass before outdoor audiences in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Since the 1990s, Good Friday and Christmas have been official holidays on the island.

Orlando Márquez, a spokesman for the Havana Archdiocese, voiced his joy and enthusiasm about the Pope’s stop to Cuba back in April. As quoted in the Washington Post, Márquez said, “It has been a special time in our country since the presidents of Cuba and the United States announced the process of re-establishing relations, and both of them thanked Pope Francis for his efforts to move the process forward.”

Health permitting, Fidel Castro, the former leader of Cuba, will be meeting with the Argentine-born pontiff. The Pope was integral in the organization of several secret diplomatic meetings between the U.S. and Cuba, which led to the thaw in icy diplomatic relations that dominated their relationship for over 50 years.