<blockquote>In a deal negotiated during 18 months of secret talks hosted largely by Canada and encouraged by Pope Francis, who hosted a final meeting at the Vatican, Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba agreed in a telephone call to put aside decades of hostility to find a new relationship between the United States and the island nation just 90 miles off the American coast.</blockquote>
via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html?_r=0">Obama Announces U.S. and Cuba Will Resume Relations - NYTimes.com</a>.