This Latin Rite or Roman Rite diocese was erected on 10 September 1787 by Pope Pius VI, from the territory of the then–Diocese of Santiago de Cuba. When it was erected, the new diocese encompassed the secular provinces of Santa Clara, Matanzas, Havana, and Pinar del Río in Cuba and Florida and Louisiana in what is now the United States of America. On 25 April 1793 the diocese lost territory for what would be the first of four territorial losses when the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas (Saint Louis of New Orleans) was erected. The diocese again lost territory on 20 February 1903 when the dioceses of Pinar del Río and Cienfuegos were erected, and then again on 10 December 1912 upon the erection of the diocese of Matanzas. Eventually the diocese was elevated to the Metropolitan See of "Sancti Christophori de Habana", San Cristobal de la Habana on 6 January 1925.