The Italian news agency SIR has reported that more than 100 seminarians will be able to study in the new seminary of the Archdiocese of Havana, the first to be built in 50 years in Cuba.

Construction of the new seminary began in July of 2006 and will be some 10 miles outside Havana, on 54 acres of land.

The old seminary will be transformed into a cultural center dedicated to the Servant of God Fr. Felix Varela.

“Under the name that will identify the future institution will the following phrase be inscribed, perhaps in parenthesis: ‘Old Seminary of St. Charles and St. Ambrose’,” said Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino.