POPE Francis has praised the "small steps" of diplomacy and peacemaking that brought about the rapprochement between the US and Cuba.

In his first public comments about the breakthrough, Francis told new ambassadors diplomacy was a "noble job".

Francis played a crucial role in bringing the two sides together, writing letters to presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro this past summer inviting them to find humanitarian solutions to their differences and offering the Vatican as a facilitator in negotiations.

The final deal was hammered out at the Vatican in October.

In his speech to the ambassadors, Francis said diplomacy is "a work of small steps, of little things that always end up making peace, to bring people's hearts together and spread fraternity among peoples".

The announcement resulted from secret US-Cuba negotiations, which Mr Castro said had been facilitated by the Vatican and the Canadian government. He expressed gratitude to each, "especially Pope Francis".

Havana resident Gabriel Serrano said, "Raul, Fidel, Obama and the Pope are covered with glory. I'm 71 years old and this is news that I've waited so long for."

But Yoani Sanchez, a renowned Cuban blogger critical of the government, said the development came with a price. Mr Castro, she wrote, had made a "bargaining chip" of Alan Gross, the US aid worker who was released from prison while the US freed three Cubans held as spies.

"In this way, the Castro regime has managed to get its way," she wrote. "It has managed to exchange a peaceful man, embarked on the humanitarian adventure of providing internet connectivity to a group of Cubans, for intelligence agents that caused significant damage and sorrow with their actions."