A parish in Tampa has made history by being permitted to build the first new Catholic church on Cuba in 55 years, the church announced Oct. 27.

The Associated Press reported that the move signals improving relations between the Vatican and Cuba's communist government.

Since the 1959 revolution, the government remained mainly atheist, causing tense relations with the Vatican. The first signal of any relief came in 1998 with the visit of Pope John Paul II.

Soon after that visit, Christian holidays were allowed to be observed, and a ban on church membership for Communist Party members was revoked.

The Tampa parish is responsible for finding the funding to create the new church, which will be able to serve 200 people.

The priest of St. Lawrence Catholic Church has been raising funds and lobbying the Cuban government for the permit to build the church for four years, according to WTSP.com

Father Ramon Hernandez was born in Cuba in 1945 and is now a Cuban-American in the chruch.

He said believes that the future church is a sure sign of change and can also serve as a spiritual bridge for Cubans. Only 2 million of the 11 million Cubans are practicing Catholics, Hernandez said.

"Some people think the church in Cuba stopped when they left. No. When you have the community you have the church. The building is a temple," Hernandez told WTSP.

It will be built in Sandino, a citrus and coffee-growing town in the far-western province of Pinar del Rio, AP reported.

"The construction of a church is a clear demonstration of a new phase, of an improvement, in relations between the church and the state," said Enrique Lopez Oliva, a professor the history of religions at the University of Havana.

So far the Tampa church has raised $45,000 and will be raising an additional $45,000 by next October.