ISTANBUL, TURKEYโIn a powerful and carefully managed gesture of interfaith outreach, Pope Leo XIV, on the third day of his inaugural apostolic journey, visited the iconic Sultan Ahmed Mosque, universally known as the Blue Mosque, in Istanbul on Saturday.
The Pontiff, the first American to hold the office, walked barefoot across the ancient carpet of one of the Islamic world’s most significant places of worship, following in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors, Benedict XVI and Francis, in a clear attempt to forge stronger ties between Christianity and the Muslim world.
A Contemplative Silence
Pope Leo XIV, accompanied by Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and local mosque officials, entered the soaring 17th-century structure around 9:10 a.m. local time. In accordance with Islamic custom, he removed his shoes, walking in his white socks beneath the massive dome adorned with more than 21,000 celestial blue ฤฐznik tiles.
- Departure from Precedent: Unlike Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, who paused for a moment of silent prayer facing Mecca, Pope Leo opted for a different approach. He merely toured the vast space.
- The Vatican’s Clarification: The Holy See later issued a statement clarifying the moment: the Pope experienced his visit “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.”
The mosque’s muezzin, Askin Musa Tunca, who guided the Pope, told reporters that he had invited Leo to pray, emphasizing that the mosque was “the house of Allah,” but the Pope declined, saying he “wanted to see the mosque” and “feel the atmosphere.”
Unity: The Twin Focus of the Trip
The visit to the Blue Mosque is a cornerstone of Pope Leo’s mission on his six-day journey, which also includes stops in Iznik and Lebanon. His itinerary has a dual focus:
- Christian Unity: The primary stated reason for the trip was to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in Iznik, where the Pontiff prayed alongside Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the worldโs Orthodox Christians. The goal is to overcome the millennium-old division between the Western and Eastern Churches.
- Interreligious Dialogue: The mosque visit served as the highest-profile act of engaging Turkey’s overwhelming Muslim majority, a vital message in a global climate often defined by religious and geopolitical conflict.
In a speech earlier in the trip, Pope Leo had described Turkey as a “crossroads of sensibilities” and urged Catholics in the country to “walk together by appreciating what unites us, breaking down the walls of prejudice and mistrust.”
Notably, Pope Leo did not visit the nearby Hagia Sophiaโthe ancient basilica that was converted back into a mosque in 2020โavoiding a potential diplomatic friction point and keeping the focus squarely on the theme of dialogue and mutual respect at the Blue Mosque.
The message is clear: the first American Pope is using his first international trip to promote unityโboth among Christians and between the world’s major faithsโstarting with a solemn and silent nod to history in Istanbul.