Apostolic Delegation to the Antilles

The Apostolic Delegation to the Antilles represents the interests of the Holy See to officials of the Catholic Church, civil society, and government offices in several nations in the region with which the Holy See has not established diplomatic relations. The position of Apostolic Delegate is not a diplomatic one, though the Delegate is a member of the diplomatic service of the Holy See.

On 7 December 1925 Pope Pius XI established a Delegation to the Antilles seated in Havana with responsibility for the greater and lesser Antilles.[1] After thirteen years the Holy See determined that no one individual could be expected to visit the remote locations of the Antilles by boat and divided responsibly for the Greater and Lesser Antilles among several nunciatures and delegations. On 10 August 1938, the Holy See suppressed the Delegation to the Antilles and divided responsibility with the following assignments: Jamaica and British Honduras to the Nunciature to Cuba; Barbados and the islands belonging to Venezuela to the Nunciature to Venezuela; the rest of the Lesser Antilles and the island of Puerto Rico and its associated territories to the jointly led Nunciatures to the Dominican Republic and Haiti; Bermuda to the Delegation to Canada and Newfoundland; and the Bahamas to the Delegation to the United States.[2][lower-alpha 1]

On 19 March 1975, Pope Paul VI established the Delegation to the Antilles once more, this time seated in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.[4] Its area of competence has grown ever smaller with the establishment of nunciatures in countries in the Antilles, including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.