Rome - Pope Benedict XVI, during his expected visit to the Holy Land in May, is not scheduled to enter an Israeli Holocaust museum which contains a controversial caption on wartime pope Pius XII, Israel's Vatican envoy said Friday.

Ambassador Mordechay Lewy referred to the pontiff's trip during a conference in Rome on Jerusalem's holy sites, the ANSA news agency reported.

The Vatican has yet to confirm the pontiff's visit to the Holy Land which is likely to include visits to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Lewy said Benedict, accompanied by Israeli President Shimon Peres, is likely to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Institute and pay homage to the around six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

But "there are no plans" for the pontiff to visit an adjacent museum which forms part of the Yad Vashem complex, Lewy was quoted as saying by ANSA.

The museum has drawn criticism from the Vatican for a caption under a photo of Pius which implies he remained silent about Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II.

Catholic officials have repeatedly defended Italian-born Pius XII - who reigned from 1939 until his death - citing what they say were his instructions that Jews be sheltered from the Nazis in Catholic homes, hospitals, convents and monasteries.

This behind-the-scenes approach, Pius' supporters argue, managed to avoid provoking further Nazi action that would have worsened the situation.

German-born Benedict in praising Pius has also referred to his actions in favour of the Jews. However he has also put on hold moves to have Pius beatified - an important step towards Catholic sainthood - taking time for "reflection" on the issue.

Earlier this week a church expert cited a note found in a Rome convent, written by one of the nuns and dated November 1943, in which she mentioned an order by Pius to save Jews and other persecuted by the Nazis.

The note included an appendix with the names of 24 people including Jews who were hidden by the nuns in their cloistered convent during the Nazi occupation of the Italian capital. (dpa)