Rome - Pope Benedict XVI plans to make his first visit as pope to Rome's Great Synagogue on January 17, 2010, for a meeting with the city's Jewish community, the Vatican announced Tuesday. The German-born pontiff's visit is set to take place almost a year to the day when his decision to lift excommunication orders against four ultra-traditionalist bishops, including a Holocaust denier, caused the most serious rift of recent times between the Vatican and Jews.
Relations have subsequently improved with Benedict's admission that mistakes were made in handling the case of the rebel bishops.
The pontiff has also since insisted that the four as well as other members of their group, the Society of Saint Pius X, must fully accept Vatican teachings on good relations with Judaism.
In 1986, Benedict's predecessor, the late John Paul II, made the first known visit by a modern-day pope to a Jewish house of worship when he visited Rome's Great Synagogue.
