NEW YORK - Pope Benedict XVI will make a historic visit to a New York synagogue the day before Passover.

On Apr. 18, Park East Synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side will become the first American Jewish house of worship to host a papal visit. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops made the announcement.

A report in the Milan daily Il Giornale said the pope will meet at the synagogue with its rabbi, Arthur Schneier, and a group of Jewish children. "He's going to offer Passover greetings to the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel," Schneier told JTA. "It's a message of goodwill and we should welcome it."

Schneier said the idea for the synagogue visit arose when he "happened to be at the Vatican" discussing the pope's American trip. The rabbi would not say whether the suggestion came from him or the Vatican.

The visit, part of the pope's six-day visit to New York and Washington beginning Apr. 15, comes at a fraught moment in Jewish- Christian relations.

Last year the pope allowed the reintroduction of a centuries old prayer for the conversion of the Jews, a move that sparked fears of a major setback in Catholic-Jewish relations. A revised version, released by the Vatican in February, removed some of the prayer's most incendiary parts but retained the call for Jewish conversion.

"After the Good Friday prayer, Jews should not be running to kiss the hem of the Vatican," said Rabbi Gerald Meister, who advises the Israeli Foreign Ministry on issues of Jewish-Christian relations. "It's a matter of Jewish honor. The Vatican owes the Jewish people an explanation of why it did what it did, which puts into question entirely the Nostra Aetate document and the understanding of covenant theology." .