Pope Benedict, on his first visit to Israel, said yesterday that the suffering of six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany in the Holocaust must never be denied or forgotten.
In a gesture addressing Jewish anger over his lifting of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop in January, the pontiff went to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to honour the dead and meet survivors of the concentration camps.
He spoke of the "horrific tragedy of the Shoah", the Hebrew term for the Holocaust, and called it an atrocity that had disgraced mankind and must never be repeated.
"May the names of these victims never perish. May their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotten," he said.
The chairman of Yad Vashem council, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, expressed disappointment that the Pope was not more explicit.
"There certainly was no apology expressed here," he said. There was no "expression of empathy with the sorrow".
The Pope made a moving speech, Rabbi Lau said, but "something was missing. There was no mention of the Germans or the Nazis who participated in the butchery, nor a word of regret."
Rabbi Lau also criticised the German-born pontiff for not specifically saying six million Jews were murdered - though Pope Benedict used the figure in his arrival speech.
"I will have the opportunity to honour the memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah," he said at Ben-Gurion airport, "and to pray that humanity will never again witness a crime of such magnitude."
In the 45 years since the Second Vatican Council repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Christ's death, relations between the Vatican and the Jewish state have been haunted by the church's actions during the Holocaust.
Ties plummeted to a low in January when Pope Benedict lifted the excommunication of British Bishop Richard Williamson. In a conciliatory message later, he told Jewish leaders that "any denial or minimisation of this terrible crime is intolerable". Bishop Williamson denied six million Jews were killed. The Vatican said it had not known enough about the British bishop's past and the church and Jewish religious leaders had hoped the issue could be closed with the visit to Yad Vashem.
Israel's President Shimon Peres welcomed the Pope, saying he could contribute to peace in the Middle East. "Spiritual leaders can pave the way for political leaders. They can clear the minefields that obstruct the road to peace," Mr Peres said, as they met at his official residence.