The Pope will pray for the redemption of Islamic terrorists when he visits the site of the September 11 attacks in New York next week.

The pontiff will call for terrorists to convert to Christianity, saying: “Turn to Your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.

“God of understanding, overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy, we seek your light and guidance”.

The prayer is likely to further incense the Muslim world, which has already attacked the Pope for publicly converting Magdi Allam, a journalist and one of Italy’s most high-profile Muslims, at Easter.

Osama bin Laden accused the Pope of trying to provoke “a new crusade” against Islam.

Aref Ali Nayed, a leading scholar and proponent of peaceful relations between the Roman Catholic Church and Islam, said that there were “genuine questions about the motives, intentions and plans of some of the Pope’s advisers on Islam”.

He said that religious conversion should not be “made into a triumphalist tool for scoring points”.

The Pope’s first visit to the United States begins on Tuesday. He will visit Ground Zero on April 20 and the prayer is expected to be the emotional high-point of his tour.

The Pope will also ask for “eternal light and peace to all who died” in the tragedy. His prayer will remember “the heroic first-responders: our firefighters, police officers, emergency service workers… along with all the innocent men and women who were victims of this tragedy”.

“Bring Your peace to our violent world: peace in the hearts of all men and women and peace among the nations of the earth.” He will then sprinkle the crater with holy water and bless the site.

Security for the visit will be some of the tightest New York has seen. Ray Kelly, the city’s police commissioner, said it would be like having a UN general assembly, followed by a parade, followed by a presidential visit.

Aircraft will be banned from flying under 3,000 feet while the Pope is at Ground Zero. No-fly zones will also be set up above St Joseph’s Seminary and Yankee Stadium while the Pope is present.

The Vatican has also announced that the Pope will confront the issue of pedophile priests while he is in the United States. Several Catholic organizations have protested that he will not visit Boston, the epicenter of the sex abuse scandal.

The American Catholic lay group Voice of the Faithful took a full-page ad in the New York Times, calling for “accountability” as the key to recovery from the sex-abuse scandal.

In a message timed to anticipate the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, Voice of the Faithful said that the Church’s recovery from the damage caused by the scandal would require compassion for victims and justice for wrongdoers.

In particular, the ad charged that American bishops who covered up evidence of abuse should not escape the consequences of their negligence.

‘How can our Church be a moral beacon when so many bishops who repeatedly transferred known predators remain in office?’ the group asked.

The ad called upon Pope Benedict XVI to ask those bishops to resign.