ISRAEL’S President is to visit the Pope at the Vatican next month in a move marking a new era of reconciliation between the Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths after centuries of hostility.

The state visit by Moshe Katsav to the Holy See on November 17 has no precedent. “This is an historic event, the first such visit in 2,000 years; this is history in the making,” Oded Ben-Hur, the Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See, said yesterday.

Pope Benedict’s decision to invite the head of the Jewish state to the Vatican will be seen as his latest move to fulfil his inaugural pledge to reach out to other faiths.

The German-born Pope, who was briefly and involuntarily a member of the Nazi Youth, is particularly conscious of the need to mend fences with Judaism, and made a point of visiting a rebuilt synagogue which had been destroyed by the Nazis during his visit to Cologne in August.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, called the visit a “further step forward in the transformed relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people; a clear sign of Pope Benedict XVI’s determination to continue the bridge-building work of his predecessors. In a world of destructive religious tensions, the meeting of these two men is a strong signal of promise and hope.”

The Vatican refused to comment on the visit, which has yet to be announced formally, but the Most Rev Kevin McDonald, the Archbishop of Southwark, who is in charge of relations with other faiths for the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, said that the event was of great significance.

“The Vatican has always wanted to try and engage with religious questions separately,” he said. “In the context of relations with the state of Israel, there are political issues as well. Obviously the situation of Christians in the Holy Land and the holy places are important issues for the Holy See and these are things that the Holy See will want to discuss with the Israeli authorities.”

Christianity and Judaism share the same theological heritage in the Hebrew Bible, but early preachers of the Christian gospel inspired anti-Semitism, pogroms, crusades and other persecutions by portraying Jews as Christ-killers and Christianity as the religion that superseded Judaism. Some would argue that those views culminated in the Holocaust.

The Catholic Church initiated a cessation of hostilities with the 1965 document Nostra Aetate (In Our Age) that denounced anti-Semitism and promoted dialogue between Christians and Jews. Israel and the Vatican opened diplomatic relations 12 years ago and the late Pope John Paul II visited Israel in 2000.

News of the Israeli President’s state visit was welcomed by leaders of Britain’s Jewish community.

Rabbi Mark Winer, who is leading a service today at the West London Synagogue to mark the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate attended by leading members of the Catholic and Jewish faiths, said: “The world recognises that the Jewish people and the Catholic Church are two of the oldest, if not the oldest, enemies on the face of the Earth. This and the history of the past 40 years give hope to everybody that seemingly intractable problems can be resolved. The fact is, the Jewish and Catholic faiths have been transformed from the worst of enemies to the closest of friends. This is something that should give hope to people of every faith.”

Father Norbert Hoffman, secretary of the Papal Commission for Relations with the Jews, who is in London for the anniversary celebrations, said: “It is a very important visit because Israel for us Catholics is the Holy Land. Relations with the Jewish state are one of the priorities of Pope Benedict.”

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