Pope Francis will ride through Central Park later this month in his most massive public appearance during his visit to New York City, officials said Tuesday.

Throngs of people are expected to line the park’s West Drive between West 72nd and West 60th streets on Sept. 25, as Pope Francis travels between an East Harlem school and his Mass at Madison Square Garden that evening.

The city said it would be distributing tens of thousands of tickets to New York state residents in a lottery. Residents can register for the lottery online at nyc.gov/papalvisit or call 311 to enter Sept. 3-7, with winners notified on Sept. 10, city officials said.

Given the “relatively small” size of venues during the papal visit, officials from the Archdiocese of New York had been “trying to think of a way to allow more New Yorkers to feel as if they had participated,” said spokesman Joseph Zwilling.

“He’s coming to New York to see the people,” Mr. Zwilling said. “We wanted to maximize that as much as possible.”