Gorbachev was the first Soviet leader to pay a state visit to Italy and the Vatican. The first high-level talks took place in Rome on November 29-30, 1989, they finally drew a line under the period of distrust and strained relations associated with Italy's participation half a century earlier in the Hitler coalition. On December 1, 1989, Gorbachev was received by Pope John Paul II, the second time the president of the USSR visited the Vatican on November 18, 1990. These meetings influenced Gorbachev's attitude to Christian values ​ ​ (despite the fact that he considers himself an atheist), a month and a half later, on January 7, 1991, Orthodox Christmas was declared a public holiday in the USSR - a day off. Under President Gorbachev, on March 15, 1990, the Soviet Union and the Vatican first established diplomatic relations and exchanged embassies.