The review contains a report on the conference in the framework of which the presentation and discussion of a research project of the Center for the history of religion and the Church of the Institute of World History RAS “Entangled Histories: Russia and the Vatican, 1917—1958” (project supported by the Russian Science Fund, No. 19-18-00482). The conference was held on October 8, 2019 at the Moscow state Institute of international relations of the Russian foreign Ministry. The project aims to identify and describe the different levels of interaction between Russia and the papacy in the first half of the Soviet period (1917—1958). The aim of the research is to introduce a new set of documents on the history of the USSR into scientific circulation. The presentations were presented by the project participants G. Freeze, E. S. Tokareva, N. A. Belyakova. Other participants of the project — A. L. Beglov, I. A. Fadeev, D. D. Shebalin, E. O. Shebalina, as well as professors and students of MGIMO — spoke during the discussion.