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Pope apologises for church sins

Cardinal Edward Cassidy, raising the issue of the treatment of Jews, said: "Christians will acknowledge the sins committed by a not a few of their number against the people of the Covenant."

"We are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood," the Pope responded.

The Roma, or gypsy people, were also mentioned as having suffered.

Israel wanted more
Israel's chief rabbi, Meir Lau, said he expected more and described himself as "deeply frustrated" by John Paul's failure to mention the Holocaust by name.

"I hope deeply that the Pope of today whom I appreciate very much for his doings and for his condemning anti-Semitism will complete the asking of forgiveness next week in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem," Rabbi Lau said.

The Pope is going on pilgrimage to Israel later this month - the first papal visit for more than 30 years.

But Rabbi David Rosen, head of the Jerusalem office of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, said expectations that the Pope would say more were perhaps "a little unrealistic".

Other confessions touched on treatment of racial and ethnic groups and "contempt for their cultures and religious traditions" and towards women "who are all too often humiliated" and marginalised.