By FRANCES D'EMILIO
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Deeply dismayed by Cuba's crackdown on dissent,
Pope John Paul II decried harsh sentences handed down against the
island's dissidents and implored Fidel Castro to show leniency.

In a letter made public Saturday, the pontiff also denounced the execution
of three men who seized a ferry in a failed bid to reach the United States.

The plea was conveyed to Castro on April 13 -- Palm Sunday -- two days
after a firing squad killed the men, who had commandeered the boat and
its 50 passengers in Havana Bay on April 2.

A Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the letter had
not been publicized to give Castro a chance to respond. Apparently, there
was no answer.

Cuba has come under heavy world criticism for sentencing 75 dissidents
to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years on charges they collaborated
with American diplomats to subvert the island nation's socialist system.

Castro has taken a hard stand. On Friday, he accused the top U.S.
diplomat in Cuba of stirring up subversive activities by opponents of his
government. He has defended the executions as necessary to halt what
he called a brewing migration crisis provoked by the United States.

Dissidents and diplomats have denied the accusations.

The Vatican said the pontiff, upon learning of "the heavy sentences
inflicted on a significant group of Cuban dissidents," asked the Vatican's
secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to express John Paul's "deep
sorrow" in a letter to Castro.

The letter, in Spanish, began with Easter greetings to the traditionally
Catholic nation.

"The Holy Father felt deeply pained when he learned of the harsh
sentences recently imposed on numerous Cuban citizens, and, even, for
some of them, the death penalty," Sodano wrote. "In the face of these
facts, His Holiness gave me the task of asking Your Excellency to give full
consideration to a significant gesture of clemency toward those
convicted."

Showing leniency, the letter said, "will contribute to create a climate of
greater detente to the benefit of the dear Cuban people," whom the pope
visited in 1998 in a historic pilgrimage.

"I am sure that you also share with me the conviction that only a sincere
and constructive confrontation between the citizens and the civil
authorities can guarantee the promotion of a modern and democratic state
in a Cuba ever more united and fraternal," Sodano concluded.

The Holy See has faced some criticism in Italy for failing to speak out
enough about Cuba, though the Vatican's newspaper has described the
executions as a "sad development."

The pope is a staunch opponent of the death penalty, and on occasion
has appealed to authorities to call off scheduled executions, including
some in the United States.

He has championed human rights throughout his papacy. After the
pontiff's visit to Cuba, Castro released 299 prisoners.

During his 1998 visit to Nigeria, Vatican officials pressed for the release of
some 60 prominent Nigerians, including political opponents and
journalists.

Cuba's own bishops have been among Castro's critics. In March, they
urged authorities to accept differing political opinions. The church itself
has been struggling to strengthen its place in Cuba, which in the past has
expelled foreign priests and closed parish schools.

There have been some advances. After the pope's visit, Christmas was
made an official holiday again.

And Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, viewed by some as a contender to be
the next pope, has gained some access to Cuba's mass media as he
tries to regain ground lost by the church after the revolution which brought
Castro to power more than 40 years ago. Ortega himself spent a year in a
labor camp.

After the pope's appeal, Joe Garcia, executive director of the Miami-based
Cuban American National Foundation, called John Paul "a moral authority
in a country that lacks total morality."

            Copyright 2003 Associated Press.