During his eagerly awaited visit to Rome's main synagogue, Pope Benedict XVI has heard criticism of the role of the Vatican during the Second World War.

Riccardo Pacifici, the president of Rome's Jewish community, said Pope Pius XII should have spoken out against the Holocaust. He believes the pope's predecessor could not have stopped the genocide, but should have offered solidarity to the Jewish victims of the Nazis.

In his address, the present pope defended the wartime Vatican, saying work was being done behind the scenes. He also suggested it was thought at the time that public intervention might worsen the situation for both Jews and Catholics during the war.

The Jewish community in Rome is one of the oldest outside Israel. Pope John Paul II was the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to visit a synagogue for nearly 2000 years when he went to the same synagogue in 1986.

photo: Benedict XVI (EPA)