President Barack Obama will welcome Pope Francis to the White House on Sept. 23, the administration confirmed on Thursday, according to USA Today.

The leader of the world's more than 1 billion Catholics will become the third pontiff to visit the executive mansion; in 1979, President Jimmy Carter hosted Pope John Paul II and, in 2008, President George W. Bush welcomed Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Obama and Francis, the first Latin American pope, will discuss a broad range of issues, including poverty, the environment, religious freedom and immigration, White House press secretary Josh Earnest noted. They previously met a year ago at the Vatican, where the two secretly prepared the normalization of planned relations between the United States and Cuba.

The day after his meeting with Obama, Francis is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress, becoming the first pontiff to address both the House and Senate, the Religion News Service detailed.

Beyond Washington, Francis plans to travel to Philadelphia and New York during his first U.S. visit. He will attend the World Meeting of Families – a major gathering of Catholic leaders – held in the Pennsylvania city before addressing the United Nations on Sept. 25.

A member of the planning committee told Reuters that the pontiff is likely to celebrate Mass both in Washington and New York but that it was not yet clear whether those services would be open to the public.

When Obama and Francis met in Vatican City last year, the pope presented the president with two medallions – including one symbolizing solidarity and peace between the Northern and Southern hemispheres – and a copy of "Evangelii Gaudium," or "The Joy of the Gospel," the New York Times recalled.

The U.S. leader, in turn, gave the pontiff a custom-made box made from reclaimed wood from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, which contained a variety of fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House garden.

"If you have a chance to come to the White House, we can show you our garden as well," Obama told Francis at the time.