ROME — Pope Benedict XVI’s planned visit to Rome’s main synagogue Sunday has sharply divided Italian Jews, with some angered by his moves to push World War II Pope Pius XII toward sainthood.
Some Jews and historians have accused Pius of not doing enough to stop the Holocaust.
A top rabbi and at least one other prominent community member have announced they will not attend the synagogue visit in protest.
And the tension, which comes on the heels of other mishaps in Jewish-Catholic relations, has raised fears of demonstrations, although both sides insist they will not let the event be marred by controversy.
Jewish leaders from around the world have traveled to Rome for the German-born Benedict’s third visit to a synagogue as pope after seeing ones in Cologne, Germany, and New York.
He will be following in the steps of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who became the first pontiff to set foot in a synagogue when he visited the monumental synagogue in Rome near the Tiber River in 1986.
“It will be a meeting of peace, friendship and mutual respect,” said Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni. “But above all it will be an example of how to coexist even if he have differences.”
Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, head of the Italian Rabbinic Assembly, told the Corriere della Sera daily Thursday that he will not be at the synagogue because he thought that such a step on Pius so close to the visit was a “less than friendly” gesture.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, the top Vatican official in charge of relations with Jews, said “problems and difficulties will be open until the last day of history,” but “the visit will not speak about the problems, but about what we have in common.”
