Castro's Gift to Church: In Cuba, a New Seminary

Two attendees at the dedication provide one of many cases in point: President Raul Castro sat in the front row (foreground left below)... and the Supreme Knight of Columbus Carl Anderson -- once an aide in the Reagan White House -- not far behind.

Dedicated to Saints Ambrose and Charles -- the patrons of Milan -- the original Havana seminary was seized by the Communist authorities in 1966, and given insufficient quarters elsewhere. Able to house some 100 students, the new facility has its work cut out for it; often under duress, some three-quarters of Cuba's clergy left the island in the wake of Fidel Castro's rise to power, according to wire reports.
The development comes as church relations with the regime are "on a high" -- in the wake of a breakthrough 2008 visit by the Cardinal-Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the local hierarchy led by Havana's Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino has made several inroads, most prominently securing the freedom of over 50 longtime political prisoners earlier this year (most of whom have reportedly been sent to Spain immediately upon their release).

In his remarks at yesterday's dedication, Ortega underscored that the seminary project "has been able to count on state support through its conclusion," thanking both current and former Presidents Castro for making good on their pledge to back the effort.
The opening comes amid a decade-long "novena" of preparation called by the Cuban bishops leading up to 2013's 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Caridad de Cobre (Our Lady of Charity), the island's patroness.
PHOTOS: Reuters(1,3); AP(2)
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