Jerusalem ? The Vatican defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday as a man of strong anti-Nazi credentials and a peacemaker in the face of mounting Israeli criticism and Arab anger over the Israeli occupation.

Critics faulted the German-born pope for failing to apologize in a speech at Israel’s Holocaust memorial for what they see as Catholic indifference during the Nazi genocide — a controversy that threatened to overshadow his high-profile pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Benedict delivered messages of peace Tuesday while visiting the holiest Muslim and Jewish sites in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.