Pope gets warm welcome in New York synagogue

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York synagogue gave Pope Benedict a warm welcome on Friday, with the chief rabbi hailing his work for inter-faith dialogue and congregants playing down recent tensions between Catholics and Jews.

"A heartfelt shalom. Willkommen," said Arthur Schneier, chief rabbi of the Park East Synagogue, using the Hebrew word for "peace" and German word for "welcome."

The visit on the eve of Passover, the holy day marking the exodus from Egypt, was only the third by a pope to a Jewish house of worship. Benedict visited one in Cologne, Germany in 2005, and his predecessor Pope John Paul visited the Rome synagogue in 1986.

"It is with joy that I come here, just a few hours before the celebration of your Pesah, to express my respect and esteem for the Jewish community in New York City," the German-born pontiff said, using the Hebrew word for Passover.

"I encourage all of you to continue building bridges of friendship with all the many different ethnic and religious groups present in your neighborhood."

Catholic-Jewish relations were strained in February when the Vatican published a new prayer for Good Friday services in the old Latin rite that called for the conversion of the Jews. Benedict partly drafted and approved the wording.

Several Jewish leaders criticized the prayer and the Vatican issued a statement that the text "in no way intends to indicate a change in the Catholic Church's regard for the Jews."

"DIALOGUE IS VIABLE"