VATICAN CITY, Rome -- An Israeli rabbi will become the first Jewish holy man to address a Roman Catholic synod, opening Sunday, on the theme of the Bible.

Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Grand Rabbi of Haifa, Israel, will speak on the second day of the three-week event gathering some 250 Catholic prelates from around the world.

Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate mass on Sunday to open the synod, during which the bishops will discuss Christian fundamentalism and the relationship between religion and science as well as Judaism.

Cohen will speak Monday about "how the Jewish people read and interpret the holy scripture...that they share to a great extent with Christians," the synod's secretary Nikola Eterovic of Croatia told a news conference on Friday.

The second such gathering to be presided over by Benedict since his election in 2005 will have the theme "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church."

The synod is a consultative body created in 1965 to facilitate contacts among bishops and to help the pope set policies for running the Church.

Cohen told the Washington-based Catholic News Service in Jerusalem that his invitation was a "signal of hope (bringing) a message of love, coexistence, and peace for generations."

He was due to speak on the Jewish interpretation of the Bible, whose first five books comprise the Torah, Judaism's most holy sacred writings.

Benedict has continued the conciliatory steps taken by his predecessor, Polish-born John Paul II, to improve inter-faith relations, but has sometimes stumbled.

Most recently he allowed the reintroduction of a controversial Good Friday prayer calling for the conversion of Jews.

However in April the German-born pontiff won some Jewish hearts and minds when he became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit a synagogue in the United States.

Benedict is to kick off the proceedings on Sunday by celebrating mass at Rome's basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Of the 253 archbishops, bishops, and cardinals summoned to the synod, 51 are from Africa, 62 from the Americas, 41 from Asia, 90 from Europe, and nine from the Pacific.

The event will include, for the first time, a speech on October 18 by Bartholomew I, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, and Protestant and Anglican prelates are to attend as observers.

Another 41 experts including six women and 37 observers including 19 women are to take part.