The papacy has used a series of representatives and territorial structures to manage its affairs in Puerto Rico and in the Caribbean region generally.
It began in 1898 with a delegation that was based in Havana and assigned responsibility for Cuba and Puerto Rico.
It recognized that no one individual could be expected visit the remote locations of the Antilles by boat, and it determined to use its existing network of papal representations in the region, including the Apostolic Nunciature to Cuba established in September 1935.
Puerto Rico was assigned to the Nunciatures to the Dominican Republic and to Haiti, two offices then headed jointly by a single diplomat.
[b] On 19 March 1975 Pope Paul VI established the Delegation to the Antilles once again, initially based in Port-au-Prince.