Cuba builds first church in 55 years
HAVANA – Cuba is allowing construction of the country’s first new Catholic church in 55 years. Experts say it’s a sign of improving relations between the Vatican and Cuba’s communist government.
The church, funded by donations from Catholics in Tampa, Fla., will be built in Sandino, a citrus- and coffee-growing town in the far-western province of Pinar del Rio.
The church publication Christian Life said it will have space for 200 people.
“The construction of a church is a clear demonstration of a new phase, of an improvement, in relations between the church and the state,” said Enrique Lopez Oliva, a professor of religious history at the University of Havana.
The Catholic Church had tense relations with what was long an officially atheist government for many years after the 1959 revolution, but they began to improve ahead of Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1998.
The government revived observance of a Christmas holiday and began allowing masses or homilies to be broadcast on official media. It also dropped a ban on church membership for Communist Party members that had been adopted in the years after the 1959 revolution.
Lisa Lundquist teaches a spiritual painting class to church members to help them tap further into their relationship with God at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Thursday, October 30, 2014. Photo by Stacie Scott, The Gazette
