An astonishing bit of news from the Havana Desk:

Cuba has invited the Catholic Church to open a new monastery on the island and a German Benedictine order said Wednesday it would send four monks to establish a “spiritual centre.”The church has been officially banned in the past from building new churches on the communist island.

The four monks will be provided by the Missionary Benedictines, also known as the Ottilien Congregation, an order of monks with its world headquarters at Landsberg am Lech, west of Munich.

The new site will be in the archdiocese of Havana, the order’s spokesman said.

The foundation had been requested by the archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, and had been expressly approved by Fidel Castro before his retirement last month as Cuban leader.

The spokesman said Cuban authorities had been helpful in the preparations to set up the monastery, which was likely to open this year.

One of the monks would come from the headquarters abbey, St Odilia at Landsberg, where 110 men practise manual trades as part of their religious vows. The order is a splinter from the Benedictines, the Catholic Church’s oldest religious order.

It was understood that Castro had insisted that one of the four monks with farm experience be skilled in cheese-making. The “Maximo Lider” as he is known in Cuba is said to be fond of cheese.

The spokesman said Cardinal Ortega hoped the Benedictines would give the church in Cuba “fresh spiritual impetus.”