San Cristóbal de La Habana, Archdiocese of

SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LA HABANA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - Known by the simple name of Havana (La Habana), capital city of the Republic of Cuba (v.) in the Antilles.

It has a territory of 8,220 sq km with a population of 1,235,939 inhabitants, of whom 1,200,000 are Catholics distributed in 63 parishes, served by 79 diocesan priests and 194 religious; it has a seminary, 44 male communities and 80 female communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 351).

The diocese was created by Pius VI on 10 September 1787 by dismemberment of the diocese of Santiago de Cuba. The diocese then included the present provinces of La Habana, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas and S. Clara together with Florida and Louisiana. Then in 1796 the diocese of New Orleans was erected; in 1903 the dioceses of Pinar del Rio and Cienfuegos were dismembered. Pius XI, with the apostolic constitution Inter praecipuas of 6 January 1925, raised it to a metropolitan see, assigning to it as suffragans the dioceses of Matanzas and Pinar del Rio. Pius XII created cardinal (18 February 1946) the present archbishop, Emanuele Arteaga y Betancourt.

The Cathedral, built around the middle of the 18th century, presents the characteristic form of the Spanish colonial era, from which nation Cuba separated in 1898. The facade is beautiful, and more beautiful still are the two side towers separated from the building.