'New atmosphere' ahead of Pope visit to Rome synagogue - cardinal

Pope Benedict XVI's weekend visit to the Rome synagogue will take place in a "new atmosphere" in relations between Catholics and Jews, a top Vatican cardinal said.

"We have a new atmosphere with Judaism even if there are difficulties," Cardinal Walter Kasper said in reference to tensions over the Pope's decision to bestow the title "venerable" on Pius XII, moving the wartime Pope a step closer to sainthood.

The landmark visit on Sunday will be aimed at seeking common ground, said Carindal Kasper, who heads the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

"In our more or less secularised society, we share many concerns: the protection of life, the family, social justice," he told a news conference.

Catholics and Jews want to work together on "today's societal problems such as AIDS", Cardinal Kasper said.

The long-planned visit appeared at risk of being cancelled after the Pope last month put the controversial Pope Pius XII one step away from beatification en route to sainthood.

The Pope from 1939 to 1958 has been accused of inaction while Germany's Nazi regime was exterminating millions of Jews in Europe's concentration camps.

"I have full understanding for the sensitivity of the survivors of the Holocaust, and we must respect this sensitivity," Cardinal Kasper said.

"On the other side, we have to tell them also what Pius XII did in favour of the Jews during World War II, and this is not known enough," he added.

"Many thousands of Jews were saved here in Rome and elsewhere in the world," he said.

Polish bishops told the wartime Pope "not to speak too much because it would be counterproductive", the cardinal said.

Pope Pius XII "did what he could do in a practical sense to help many Jews... He was not able to save all of them, that's clear, but he saved a lot, so we must do justice to him," Cardinal Kasper said.