Thursday, August 14, 2014

Cuba OKs Building 1st Cath. Church Since 1959; Critics Say It's a PR Scam to Help Raul Castro

The Republic of Cuba will allow a Catholic church to be built in the communist nation -- the first time since 1959 that Communist Cuba has allowed a church to be built -- the Christian Headlines website reports today (August 14, 2014).

The church will be built in Santiago de Cuba and will be funded privately, partly by a parish in Tampa, Florida.

"Catholics have been hearing Mass in the street since Hurricane Sandy destroyed their previous church, a termite-eaten wooden structure with a leaking roof," said Katherine Backler of The Tablet website. "Part of the new church will be built from the steel beams of the stage on which Pope Benedict XVI said Mass when he visited Havana in 2012," she added.

But critics are saying that the permit to build the new church is "a public relations scam" to help Cuban President Raul Castro's image by giving the impression that the Cuban government is becoming less totalitarian.

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