THE Vatican defended the Pope from a growing chorus of Israeli critics who accused the German-born Benedict XVI of failing to express enough remorse for the Holocaust – a controversy that threatened to eclipse a papal pilgrimage aimed at building bridges between faiths.

POPE Benedict XVI pledged yesterday to remember the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, seeking to repair strains with Jews over one of the most sensitive issues at the start of a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The pope called for an independent Palestinian homeland as soon as he arrived in Israel today.