Pope visits Istanbul Blue Mosque to meet Turkish religious leaders

Pope Leo

Leo took off his shoes and, in white socks, toured the 17th-century mosque, looking up at its tall tiled domes and the Arabic inscriptions on its columns as an imam pointed it out to him.

The Vatican had said Leo would observe a “brief moment of silent prayer” in the mosque, but he did not do so. An imam at the mosque, Asgin Tunca, said he had invited Leon to pray, since the mosque was “the house of Allah,” but the pope refused.

Later, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: “The Pope lived 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.”

The Vatican later sent a corrected version of its bulletin on the trip, removing the reference to the planned “brief moment of silent prayer”, without further explanation.

Leo, history’s first American pope, was following in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, all of whom made high-profile visits to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, as it is officially known, in a gesture of respect to Turkey’s Muslim majority.

Papal visits to the Blue Mosque often raise questions

Other visits have always raised questions about whether the pope would pray in the Muslim house of worship, or at the very least stop to collect his thoughts in meditative silence.

When Pope Benedict XVI visited Turkey in 2006, tensions were high because Benedict had offended many in the Muslim world months earlier with a speech in Regensburg, Germany, widely interpreted as linking Islam to violence.

The Vatican added a visit to the Blue Mosque at the last minute in order to reach Muslims, and Benedict was warmly welcomed. He observed a moment of silent prayer, with his head bowed, as the imam prayed next to him, facing east.

Benedict then thanked him “for this moment of prayer” for what was only the second time a pope had visited a mosque, after St. John Paul II visited one briefly in Syria in 2001.

There was no doubt in 2014 when Pope Francis visited the Blue Mosque: He stood for two minutes of silent prayer facing east, his head bowed, his eyes closed and his hands clasped in front of him. The grand mufti of Istanbul, Rahmi Yaran, then told the pope: “May God accept it.”

Speaking to reporters after the visit, Imam Tunca said he told the Lion: “This is neither my house nor yours, (it is) the house of Allah,” he said. He said he told the pope, “‘If you want, you can worship here,’ I said. But he said, ‘It’s okay.'”

“He wanted to see the mosque, feel (the) atmosphere of the mosque, I think. And he was very happy,” he said.

There was also another change in the official program, after the Vatican said the head of Turkey’s Diyanet Religious Affairs Directorate would accompany Leo to the mosque. He did not come and a Diyanet spokesperson said he was not supposed to, since he had hosted Leo in Ankara.

Hagia Sophia abandoned its itinerary

Former popes have also visited the surrounding area Hagia Sophia historic monument, once one of Christianity’s most important historic cathedrals and a United Nations-designated World Heritage Site.

But Leo left this visit off his itinerary on his first trip as pope. In July 2020, Turkey converted the Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque, a move that attracted widespread international criticismincluding the Vatican.

After visiting the mosque, Leo held a private meeting with Turkey’s Christian leaders at the Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church. In the afternoon, he was to pray with the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew, at the Patriarchal Church of St. George.

There they had to sign a joint declaration. The Vatican said that in his remarks to the assembled patriarchs, Leo reminded them “that division among Christians is an obstacle to their witness.”

He spoke of the next Holy Year that Christians will celebrate, in 2033, the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ, and invited them to go to Jerusalem for “a journey that leads to full unity”.

Leo ended the day with a Catholic mass at Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena for the country’s Catholic community, which numbers 33,000 in a country of more than 85 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.

Airbus software update does not spare the Pope

While Leo focused on strengthening relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims, the trip’s organizers dealt with more mundane issues.

The ITA Airways Airbus A320neo chartered by Leo was among those affected by the global Airbus software updateordered by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The order came after an analysis found that computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in altitude on a JetBlue plane last month.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Saturday that the ITA was working on the issue. He said the component needed to update the aircraft was on its way to Istanbul with the technician who would install it.

Leo is scheduled to fly from Istanbul to Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday afternoon for the second leg of his trip. maiden voyage as pope.