(11:10) Pope meeting chief rabbis

Cardinals and rabbis rubbed shoulders as the pope received a red-carpet welcome from the chief rabbis when he arrived a few minutes ago at Heichal Shlomo.

Chief Rabbis Yisrael Lau (Ashkenazi) and Eliahu Bakshi-Doron(Sephardi) met the pope and escorted him to the library of the Chief Rabbinate where they are presently conferring.

As he entered the building, the pope stopped to admire a 400-year old "parochet," the covering used before the ark in a synagogue. Pope John Paul II is the first pope in history to have visited a synagogue (in Rome).

Among the humanitarian issues that the rabbis plan to raise with the pontiff are the possibility of his intervention on behalf of Israli soldiers mssing in action, and the Jews facing espionage charges in Iran, Channel 1 reported.