SEVEN HUNDRED architectural companies from all over Europe are competing for Church contracts in Rome for the construction of two diocesan centres in run-down city suburbs.
Long queues of architects have been forming outside Rome Vicariat offices at the church of St John Lateran.
The projects they are presenting concern what the Vicariat calls two "pilot parochial centres" the forerunners of 50 new parish churches scheduled for Rome's degraded and highly populated outskirts.
The winners of these contracts could then be assigned to some of the work for the 50 new churches pencilled in for 34 areas around Rome.