( CNN ) Pope Francis will visit Cuba on his way to the United States in September , the Vatican said Wednesday -- a trip that will come months after he helped negotiate a diplomatic thaw between the two countries . The exact timing of the Cuba trip was n't immediately released , but the Vatican said the Pope would stop in Cuba before his planned late September stops in Washington , New York and Philadelphia . In Havana 's Cathedral Square , people reacted joyously to the news . `` The Pope coming here , maybe he could ... make more positive ways for Cubans to go towards religion , more than politics , '' said Raul Garcia , a Cuban-American who returned to the island . `` I think it 's going to be a very good visit , very beneficial for the country . '' `` We are waiting for him . We 're very happy he is coming , '' said Ulises , a man who sells brightly colored paintings of antique cars to tourists on the street next to the sprawling Havana Cathedral . `` He should come and get to know it and walk around the pretty spots in Havana . '' Cuba 's state-run television reported that Francis would visit , but like the Vatican did not report exactly when he would arrive . Francis , the first pope from Latin America , played a role in restarting diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States , earning praise from both U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro . The Pope made personal pleas to Obama and Cuban leaders in private letters , writing that the two nations should try to reset their relations after decades of friction . The Vatican also hosted talks between U.S. and Cuban delegations in October , where they hashed out aspects of a new trade policy and discussed the release of jailed American contractor Alan Gross , who was freed as part of the detente between the two countries . `` I want to thank His Holiness , Pope Francis , whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be , rather than simply settling for the world as it is , '' Obama said in December as he announced a U.S. policy shift on Cuba . Since his election in 2013 , Pope Francis has displayed a deep interest in international affairs . He repeatedly urged Western leaders not to bomb Syria , hosted a prayer service between Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the Vatican and waded into diplomatic controversy last week by referring to the killing of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago as a `` genocide . '' The latter move deeply upset Turkish leaders , who recalled their Vatican ambassador . The Pope is expected to continue his international activism in July with a trip to South America , where he will visit Ecuador , Bolivia and Paraguay . In late September , Francis will visit Washington , where he will address Congress ; New York , where he will address the U.N. General Assembly ; and Philadelphia , where he will celebrate a public Mass that 's expected to draw more than 1 million people . Francis will be the third consecutive leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Cuba . St. John Paul II stopped there for several days in 1998 , and Pope Benedict XVI visited for three days in 2012 . Church officials in Havana said that they expect Francis ' visit to be shorter than those of his predecessors . Officials from the Vatican are expected to travel to the island soon to finalize logistics for Francis ' trip , the officials said . CNN 's Patrick Oppmann reported from Havana . CNN 's Jason Hanna wrote in Atlanta . CNN 's Hada Messia contributed to this report from Rome .
Trip will come before Pope Francis arrives in United States . The pope is expected to visit the U.S. on Sept. 22 and 23.