In an historic move to reinforce Jewish-Catholic dialogue Pope Benedict XVI has asked an Israeli Rabbi to become become the first Jewish spiritual leader to address a Roman Catholic synod.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Grand Rabbi of Haifa, would address the two day Synod of Bishops in Rome next month, convened by the Pope to discuss the Bible, with the theme "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church."

More than 200 bishops are expected to attend. Rabbi Cohen is to explain to the bishops the Jewish interpretation of the Bible, whose first five books comprise the Torah, Judaism's most sacred writings. He told the Catholic News Service (CNS) in Jeusalem that he saw the invitation as a "signal of hope bringing a message of love, coexistence and peace for generations."

Rabbi Cohen is already well known in Italy and the Vatican for his active promotion of Jewish-Catholic relations. In April Pope Benedict, who has followed John Paul II in giving priority to Jewish-Catholic dialogue, became the first pontiff to enter a synagogue in the United States. He is also due to meet Muslim scholars in the Vatican this autumn.

However the Pope has alienated some Jewish leaders by promoting the cause for the beatification of Pius XII, the wartime pontiff held by some to have turned a blind eye to the sufferings of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust. He also raised eyebrows by reintroducing into the liturgy a controversial Good Friday prayer which includes a call for the conversion of Jews, while insisting that the prayer was in no sense anti Semitic.

In another innovation Pope Benedict has nominated six female scholars to attend the Synod as experts and another nineteen to attend as observers, the largest number of women ever to take part. The six women experts are Sister Sara Butler, professor of dogmatic theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, NY, Sister Nuria Calduch-Benages of Spain and Bruna Costacurta of Italy, both professors of the Old Testament at the Pontifical Gregorian University, a Jesuit body, Marguerite Lena, professor of philosophy in Paris, Sister Mary Jerome Obiorah, professor of Scripture at the University of Nigeria, and Sister Germana Strola, a member of the Trappist order at Vitorchiano in Italy.