MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pope Francis will receive Cuba's Raul Castro on private visit next Sunday

“Raul Castro will be received in the morning for strictly private talks,” the spokesman said in a statement Tuesday.

Pope Francis and Cuban President Raul Castro will meet privately on Sunday at the Vatican, a spokesman said, four months before the pontiff's trip to the Caribbean island, his first as leader of the Catholic Church.

 Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Tuesday Castro's meeting with the first Latin American pope was strictly private and not an official state visit.

“Raul Castro will be received in the morning for strictly private talks,” the spokesman said in a statement Tuesday.

Francis leveraged the Vatican's ties to Cuba and the United States, writing letters to both Castro and President Barack Obama, to help foster December's historic announcement of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the former foes.

The Holy See confirmed the pope personally mediated between the two sides, and the Vatican hosted delegations from the two countries in October.

The Vatican said last month Francis - on the invitation of the Cuban government and the Cuban Roman Catholic Church - would go to the predominantly Catholic island in September, before making a previously announced visit to the United States.

Francis' predecessor Benedict XVI visited Cuba in 2012. The previous pope, John Paul II, was the first to make a visit, in 1998.