SAN GIOVANNI DI CUYO (SAN JUAN DE CUYO), ARCHDIOCESE OF. - City and archdiocese of the province of S. Juan in the Argentine Republic.
It has an area of 89,179 sq. km. with a population of 275,000 inhabitants, of whom 250,000 are Catholics; it comprises 20 parishes served by 32 diocesan priests and 14 religious; it has 2 male and 9 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 354).
The region was part of the archdiocese of Santiago del Cile until 1776, when it passed under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Córdoba; in 1826 Leo XII established the apostolic vicariate of the region; on 19 Sept. 1834 Gregory XVI created the diocese under the name of S. G. di C., which became a suffragan of Buenos Aires from 1856. Its first bishop was Msgr. Justo de S. Maria de Oro. Pope Pius XI, with the apostolic constitution Nobilis Argentinae nationis of 20 Apr. 1934, raised it to the rank of metropolitan see, assigning as its suffragans the dioceses of Mendoza and S. Luigi in Argentina. The cathedral is dedicated to St. John the Baptist.