Istanbul, Turkey, 29 November, 2025 / 1:10 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Leo XIV started his third day in Turkey on Saturday with a visit to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul. The visit was a gesture of respect towards the Islamic world, fraternity with Muslims, and continuity in building bridges of interreligious dialogue, though the pope declined an invitation to pray in the Muslim house of worship.
The so-called “Blue Mosque” stands as one of the most important Islamic buildings in Istanbul. Its beauty, its scale, and its history continue to attract visitors from all over the world. It also holds a unique place in the relationship between Christianity and Islam, as several popes have passed through its doors in silence and respect.
Benedict XVI visited the mosque in 2006 during his visit to the country. The visit came less than three months after an address he made in Regensburg, Germany, in which he quoted a medieval emperor’s description of Islam as “evil and inhuman” and “spread by the sword,” provoking a fierce reaction in the Muslim world. The Vatican’s spokesman at that time, Fr. Federico Lombardi, said that Benedict paused for meditation inside the Mosque. Pope Francis entered the mosque in 2014 and stood in what the Vatican described as a “moment of silent adoration” of God inside the Muslim place of worship.
After Leo’s visit on Saturday, the Holy See Press Office said in a statement that “the pope experienced the visit to the mosque in silence, in a spirit of reflection and attentive listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer.”
One of the pope’s hosts for the visit, muezzin Aşgın Musa Tunca, told reporters afterwards that he had told the pope he was welcome “to worship here,” but that Leo had replied: “No, I am just going to look around.”
