As relations between Cuba and the Vatican continue to thaw, the Cuban government has agreed to allow the building of the first Catholic church in that country in 56 years.

Breitbart.com is reporting that the new church will be built in Sandino, a remote village in the western province of Pinar del Rio.

Ironically, this village was known at one time as a “captive town”, a place created by Castro’s communist forces 40 years ago and used to relocate and then control peasants who were becoming involved in resistance groups. Despite being a heavily Catholic area, the people never had a church.

But that is about to change.

“There is money to begin, building materials to begin, and we have the permissions to start, so everything is ready,” said Jorge Enrique Serpa Pérez, the Bishop of Pinar del Río.

Bishop Perez confirmed that nearly $50,000 had been raised for the construction of the church by St. Lawrence Church in Tampa, Florida, which is home to numerous Cuban exiles.

The new church is expected to take two years to build and will seat 200 people.

“We have wanted to build this church for many years, but it wasn’t possible,” said the pastor of Las Martinas and Sandino, Father Cyril P. Castro. “Finally we can say that it is underway.”

Father Castro received permission to build the church from the Office of Religious Affairs of the Cuban Central Committee. He has been celebrating Mass in Sandino every week in the garage of a house and is looking forward to being able to celebrate the sacraments in a church.

“People can say that Catholicism was lost in Cuba, but it’s not true,” Castro said. “The family of faith has endured. In fact, we are showing the fruit of those roots,” he said.

An estimated 60 percent of the Cuban population is Catholic, most of whom remember years of anti-Christian persecution by the hands of Fidel Castro’s forces after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. The era saw many priests jailed or exiled.

However, things began to change on the island nation in January, 1998, when Pope John Paul II visited Havana and celebrated Mass for nearly a million people.

During the Mass, the Pope boldly challenged Cuban leaders, many of whom were in attendance at the time, to stop relegating religion to the private sphere and insisted that “a modern State cannot make atheism or religion one of its political ordinances.”

His homily repeatedly mentioned the need for religious freedom and he was interrupted 28 times by a crowd thundering, “Libertad! Libertad!” – “Freedom! Freedom!”

After this historic visit, many believed that a corner had been turned for the faithful in Cuba. The recent lifting of the decades-old embargo by the U.S. promises yet another season of relief for the long-suffering people of this nation.

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