Pope Benedict will meet Jewish leaders in Washington and visit a synagogue in New York in acknowledgment of the Passover festival, which begins during his US tour this month, US bishops said on Thursday.
The meeting and synagogue visit closely follow a disagreement between the Vatican and the Jewish community over the release of a new Good Friday prayer for the Latin Mass that appears to seek the conversion of Jews, a practice largely ended in Church reforms 40 years ago.
The Pope, who visits Washington and New York April 15-20, will meet with 200 leaders of other religions on April 17 and will speak separately with Jewish leaders afterward, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a statement.
The meeting is "to present to them a message of his cordial greetings for the imminent feast of Passover," said Monsignor David Malloy, the general secretary of the United States Conference of Bishops.
The pontiff, on his first trip to the United States since being elected leader of the Roman Catholic Church in 2005, will visit Park East Synagogue in New York City. Its rabbi, Arthur Schneier, is a Holocaust survivor who lived under Nazi occupation in Budapest during World War Two.
Pope Benedict, who turns 81 on April 16, is the first German elected head of the Catholic Church since World War Two. Although his family opposed Hitler's regime, he was forced to join the Hitler Youth and later the German army before deserting at the end of the war.
'GOOD WILL'
