VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II met Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, a former communist, Friday in a historic meeting that many Italians see as a sign of improving relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Marxists.

For many Italians, the D'Alema visit is a sign of acceptance for those who joined what is known in Italy as the "other church," the Italian Communist Party, which for nearly 50 years vied with Catholics for power.

The Vatican, the Italian church and the U.S. government waged a successful battle to keep the communists at bay in the Cold War era after World War II. And Pope Pius XII decreed automatic excommunication for those who joined the Communist Party.

But communists remained a force to be dealt with, and some leading Catholic politicians worked for the day when Catholics and communists would jointly lead the country in what was known as the "historic compromise."

Some common ground

And in recent years, the Vatican and the Italian left have found much common ground, such as opposition to the 1991 Gulf War and the recent U.S. airstrikes on Iraq.

Friday's private talks between the pontiff and D'Alema lasted about half an hour.

The Vatican said they had discussed church-state issues including church demands for financial aid for Catholic schools.

D'Alema's office said he and Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano discussed the case of Naples Cardinal Michele Giordano, who Italian magistrates suspect of usury.

Extensive publicity

RAI, the state-run TV network, provided live coverage of the meeting, as did Vatican TV.

Newspapers for days had devoted pages to the visit, even supplying diagrams of D'Alema's route through the Vatican palaces.

Vatican dignitaries and a papal brass band greeted D'Alema when he arrived at the Vatican.

The pope's Swiss Guard, dressed in their gold, crimson and blue uniforms designed by Michelangelo, stood at attention.

Passing solemnly through one magnificent room after another in the sumptuous palace, D'Alema and his entourage made their way to the pontiff's private library under the glare of TV cameras.

"Good day," the pope said to the premier. "Welcome."

D'Alema, who is accustomed to leading some of the largest rallies in Europe, later acknowledged that he had felt small and nervous in front of the pope.

"I must admit that I felt a great emotion. I arrived feeling extremely tense but this tension melted right away thanks to the Holy Father's extraordinary capacity to engage in direct, human contact," D'Alema told reporters afterward.

D'Alema split from hard-line communists after the fall of the Berlin Wall and joined moderate Marxists when the Democratic Party of the Left was formed in 1991. His party, now called the Democrats of the Left, is Italy's largest.

D'Alema heads a government dominated by what is known as the center-left Olive Tree bloc. The Cabinet also includes the first Marxist ministers in more than 50 years.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.