The Pope has visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque during a day spent meeting both Muslim and Christian leaders.
Pope Leo joined an imam and the head of Turkey’s Diyanet religious affairs directorate at the 17th-century Ottoman-era mosque, officially called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
The trip marked part of the third day of his first overseas visit as head of the Catholic Church. He will travel to Lebanon on Sunday.
After the mosque visit, Leo held a private meeting with the country’s Christian leaders at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem.
While the Vatican had said Leo would observe a “brief minute of silent prayer” at the Blue Mosque, the imam said the pope declined.
Speaking to reporters after the visit, Asgin Tunca said he had told the Pope: “It’s not my house, not your house, (it’s the) house of Allah.”
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The imam added that he told the Pope: “‘If you want, you can worship here,’ I said. But he said, ‘that’s OK.’
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“He wanted to see the mosque, wanted to feel (the) atmosphere of the mosque, I think. And was very pleased.”
Later, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: “The Pope experienced his visit to the mosque in silence, in a spirit of contemplation and listening, with deep respect for the place and the faith of those who gather there in prayer.”
He is the latest pontiff to visit the holy site, with his recent predecessors Pope Francis and Pope Benedict also making visits in a gesture of respect to Turkey’s Muslim population.
Observing etiquette, Leo removed his shoes and walked through the carpeted mosque in his white socks.
However, he did not visit the Hagia Sophia, one of the most important historic cathedrals in Christianity and located just across from the Blue Mosque.
In July 2020, Turkey converted Hagia Sophia from a museum back into a mosque, which was criticised by the Vatican.
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The Pope is set to end Saturday with a Catholic Mass in Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena for the country’s Catholic community.
A religious minority, there are around 33,000 Catholics in Turkey, which has a population of more than 85 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslim.
