ROME — The last communist leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi. Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr. Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb. His arrival in Assisi was described as “spiritual perestroika” by La Stampa, the Italian newspaper.

“St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ,” Mr. Gorbachev said. “His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life,” he added. Mr. Gorbachev’s surprise visit confirmed decades of speculation that, although he was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a Christian, and casts a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in a new light. Mr. Gorbachev, 77, was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church and his parents were Christians. The parents of his wife, Raisa, were deeply religious and were killed during World War II for having religious icons in their home.