AMERICA/CUBA - Catholic seminary opens in Cuba after 50 years

Havana (Agenzia Fides) – After 50 years, Cuba will see the opening of a Catholic seminary that will begin activity in November. The new training center was built in the Archdiocese of San Cristobal de La Habana and as planned will be attended by a hundred students. The project was blessed by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Cuba in 1998, but construction work has begun just recently, when the Cuban government began to show a more tolerant attitude towards the Catholic Church. The construction of the seminary was mainly financed by the Order of the Knights of Columbus in the United States of America.
The international press, as well as local and foreign analysts, have noted that the Church has begun to play an increasingly significant role in the social life of the country. On July 7 of this year, thanks to the efforts of the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Cuban authorities released 52 political dissidents and allowed them to leave the country. In addition, the Catholic Church has repeatedly called for a liberalization of political and economic life in the country.
Activities for the inauguration of the new seminary, scheduled for November 3 to 6, will be attended by a delegation from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the United States of America, led by the Archbishop of Miami, Archbishop Thomas Wenski. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 28/10/2010)