Cuba builds first new church in 55 years

Cuba builds first new church in 55 years
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba has allowed construction of the country's first new
Catholic church in 55 years, the church said Monday. Experts said it's a
sign of improving relations between the Vatican and Cuba's communist
government.

The church, funded by donations from Catholics in Tampa, Florida, 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 the history of religions 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.

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Andrea Rodriguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP

Source: Cuba builds first new church in 55 years - Yahoo News -
https://news.yahoo.com/cuba-builds-first-church-55-years-191657884.html