Pope Benedict XVI is due to begin a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday (May 11) for a trip that Church officials hope will soothe relations between him and members of the Jewish and Muslim communities.
The Pope's stay in Israel will be particularly significant because he was a member of the Hitler Youth and recently he intended lifting the excommunication of a bishop who denies that the Holocaust happened.
Benedict XVI will visit Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Memo Read more

Pope Benedict XVI is due to begin a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday (May 11) for a trip that Church officials hope will soothe relations between him and members of the Jewish and Muslim communities.
The Pope's stay in Israel will be particularly significant because he was a member of the Hitler Youth and recently he intended lifting the excommunication of a bishop who denies that the Holocaust happened.
Benedict XVI will visit Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Memorial and like his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, he will participate in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance. He will not, however, visit the museum, which contains an exhibit on Pope Pius XII, the wartime Vatican head. Some of Pius's supporters have asked items to be removed or altered, specifically, a caption that says he "abstained from signing the Allied declaration condemning the extermination of the Jews" and "maintained his neutral position throughout the war."
The Vatican has called the caption "objectionable".
Despite the disagreement, Yad Vashem's chairman, Avner Shalev, says Pope Benedict XVI will be welcomed. Shalev will present a work of art to the Pope during his visit.
Shalev says that scholars continue to study Pope Pius XII's role during the Holocaust and that some believe he worked quietly behind the scenes to help Jews. Shalev, however, asserts that Pius remained silent in public.

"The silence, as it's called, of Pope Pius XII, which means did he deliver any open speech to the public? Did he have a statement, publicly, with regard to the destiny of the Jews, the murder of the Jews during the period of the Holocaust? Here, as a summary, we know and I think that no-one argues differently that he didn't do it," said Shalev.
The controversy surrounding Pope Pius is just one delicate issue Benedict will have to deal with while at Yad Vashem.
Benedict initially lifted the excommunication of British Bishop Richard Williamson, who said in January that no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the six million widely accepted by historians.
Williamson also said he did not believe there had been any gas chambers at the concentration camps. Williamson was one of four ultra-traditionalist bishops whose excommunications were lifted by Benedict in an attempt to heal a schism in the Church that began when they were ordained in 2008 without papal permission.
On February 12 the Pope, in an attempt to defuse the crisis, told Jewish leaders that "any denial or minimisation of this terrible crime is intolerable," especially from a clergyman.
Shalev said he would welcome Benedict, but in light of the Williamson affair would listen carefully to the Pope's words.

"The Pope (Benedict) himself announced that it was an error. It was a mistake and as far as I understand he didn't know why he made the decision to re-embrace Williamson, that he, Williamson is a Holocaust denier.
And he (Pope Benedict) put it on that Williamson will not be accepted by the Church until he will clarify, publicly and clearly, his stand with regard to the Holocaust. But still, there is some doubt there and the affair itself gives, you know, another weight to the words and to the speech that the Pope is going to address here at Yad Vashem," Shalev said.
Other Israelis are less diplomatic.
Michael Ben Ari is a conservative member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) for the National Union Party. He says Pope Benedict XVI does not deserve a special reception.

"The Jewish people have been educated, and are not educated to turn the other cheek. Whoever fights the Jewish people, whoever is still expressing anti-Semitic views and acts, deserves to receive an appropriate treatment, and not the flattery treatment the state of Israel's Ceremony Committee is planning," Ben Ari told Reuters.
Holocaust survivors in Israel say they, too, will be watching the Pope carefully.
Marti Dotan is a Holocaust survivor, originally from the Netherlands.

"I think that most of the young people were really in the Hitler Jugend (Youth). It doesn't have to have any impact on his beliefs now, but it disturbs us as people who are -- we all were in the war,some were in the concentration camp, others were hidden -- so this is something that is not really an easy thing for us. Nevertheless, he is coming here and and we have to accept this. He is the Pope and he is coming to visit the Holy Land and we have to accept this," said Dotan.
Jeanette Solomon, a Holocaust survivor originally from Romania, said: "And now we have to see how much his youth influences his personality now. We don't know. It remains a question mark."
Solomon's husband, Yaacov Solomon, says that he remains hopeful about Pope Benedict's visit.

"In spite of all this controversy, I still hope that his intentions are good and he's trying to do something, not only for us, also for the Christians, the Muslims and to help, we hope, to help, to help the peace," said Solomon.
Benedict's visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories will run from May 11 until May 15 and will be the first by a Pope to the Holy Land since Pope John Paul visited in 2000. Benedict is expected to visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth. Close