Pope Benedict adds NYC synagogue to his visit itinerary

The top mainstream papal news story today:

Pope Benedict XVI will visit a synagogue led by a rabbi who survived the Holocaust during his first papal trip to the United States, the nation's bishops said Thursday.

Benedict's visit will be just the third visit by any pope to a synagogue in the 2,000 year history of the Roman Catholic Church. It is his second visit to a synagogue as pontiff. On his first papal trip abroad in 2005, Benedict visited a synagogue in Cologne, Germany. Pope John Paul II was the first pope to visit a synagogue. (CBS)

For extensive coverage, see the Benedict In America blog.

I remember when I was in Cologne for World Youth Day in 2005 hearing about Pope Benedict's decision to visit a synagogue there. I also recall that the news surprised the native Cologne folks when I explained to them that the pope had made this gesture.

The CBS news story does a pretty good job keeping the story straight on the pope's "nazi ties":

The pontiff, 80, is a native of Germany whose father was anti-Nazi. Benedict was enrolled in the Hitler Youth program as a teenager against his will and then was drafted into the German army in the last months of the war. He wrote in his memoirs that he deserted in the war's last days.

Actually he was stationed in a backwater and was never close to active duty, as I understand it.