Jerusalem - Head bowed in sombre contemplation, Pope Benedict XVI stood motionless in front of the flame in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, paying silent tribute to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis in World War II. The visit to the Jerusalem memorial late Monday afternoon came only hours after the pontiff arrived in Israel, but it was without doubt the most anticipated moment of his five-day visit, which will also take him to the Palestinian territories.
Unlike the visit to Yad Vashem by Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, in 2000, there was no speculation that Benedict would use the opportunity to issue an apology on behalf of the Catholic Church.
Instead, the visit was in the spotlight because the Holocaust stands at the centre of recent tensions between Israel and the Holy See, and the German-born Benedict's words, actions and even body language would be scrutinized to give a clue to his real attitude and feelings.
And although the pope condemned Holocaust denial, his speech fell short of expectations for some.
Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, Rabbi Meir Lau, said that while the speech was "moving", it lacked "an expression of empathy with the sorrow."
"Something was missing. There was no mention of the Germans or the Nazis who participated in the butchery, nor a word of regret," the Ha'aretz daily quoted Lau, a Holocaust survivor, as saying. The tensions between Israel and the Vatican - whose diplomatic relations date only from 1993 - has seen both sides angered by the other's actions.
The Vatican is incensed by a caption in the Yad Yashem museum which accuses the wartime pope, Pius XII, of not doing enough to save the doomed Jews of Europe.
The issue of what Pius XII did or did not do during the Holocaust has divided historians and led to passionate arguments on both sides of the divide. The Yad Vashem caption reflects mainstream Jewish opinion on the debate.
Pius' defenders maintain that the pope did not speak out for fear that his words would only exacerbate the torment of Europe's Jews. According to some evidence, a harsh German reaction to a protest by Dutch bishops led Pius to cancel a condemnation he had planned to publish. Jews, for their part, are angered that Benedict lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, one of four allowed back into the mainstream church.
Bishop Richard Williamson had not been excommunicated for his Holocaust denial, and the Vatican was quick to demand he recant his opinion on the genocide of Europe's Jews, but Benedict's actions unleashed a storm of criticism.
On Monday afternoon, Benedict left no doubt as to his feeling on Holocaust denial, saying that the suffering of the Holocaust victims should "never be denied, belittled or forgotten."
But at the same time, a quotation in his speech from the Book of Lamentations, "it is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the Lord," could be interpreted as a veiled reference to the Pius controversy.
Otherwise, Benedict did not refer to Pius even indirectly. He also did not visit the Yad Vashem museum. Neither did John Paul II during his visit.
Benedict's visit to Yad Vashem, and his entire stay in Israel, also comes under scrutiny because of his past with the Hitler Youth, and because he is following in the footsteps, literally and figuratively, of John Paul II, whose visit nine years ago was a triumphant success.
John Paul's visit to Yad Vashem in March 2000 was full of emotion. It was the first time a pope visited the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. It was fueled by speculation - unfounded as it turned out - that he would apologize for what some see as the church's role in fostering the atmosphere which led to the Holocaust.
And it had an poignant moment when the pope met a survivor he had helped just after the Holocaust, when he was still a young, unknown Polish priest.
Benedict's visit to to the Holy Land, says Rabbi David Rosen, chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, is of as great importance as the visit of John Paul II was.
But, he notes, the problem is that it "cannot equal the intensity" of the 2000 papal pilgrimage.
