Cuban president thanks Pope for reconciling Cuba and US

Cuban president, Raul Castro has expressed his gratitude to Pope Francis for brokering the reconciliation between Cuba and the United States.

Speaking at the end of an audience at the Vatican, Castro said he had thanked the Pope for his contribution to the historic reconciliation.

BBC reports that secret negotiations to put an end to more than 5 decades of hostilities were carried out inside the Vatican.

Castro who had stopped at the Vatican after attending Russia's World War II Victory Day in Moscow said he was so impressed by a Vatican audience with Pope Francis that he might return to the Catholic church.

"I will resume praying and turn to the Church again if the Pope continues in this vein" he said.

The Catholic Church has maintained ties with Havana since the 1959 communist revolution.

Both Castro and his brother, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, were baptised as Roman Catholics, but most Church activities were suppressed after the revolution.

The Pope will visit Cuba on his way to the US in September, making him the 3rd Pope to travel to Cuba, following visits there by John Paul II in 1998 and Benedict XVI in 2012.