Turkiye: Pope Leo visits Blue Mosque

Source: Vatican Media

On the morning of his third day in Türkiye, on his first Apostolic Journey abroad, Pope Leo XIV visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the 'Blue Mosque.'

"The Pope experienced the visit to the Mosque in silence, in a spirit of recollection and attentive listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer," according to the Holy See Press Office.

The more than 21,000 ceramic tiles from Iznik that line the walls of the building, predominantly blue and turquoise, gave rise to mosque's nickname.

One of the most important in Istanbul, this mosque was completed in 1617 by Sultan Ahmed I on part of the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople.

The goal was for this mosque to become the most significant place of worship in the Ottoman Empire. Eight volumes, now preserved in the Topkapi Library, documented the construction of the mosque.

Arriving at the mosque on Saturday morning, Pope Leo was accompanied by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy; the provincial mufti of Istanbul, Emrullah Tuncel; and the imam of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Kurra Hafiz Fatih Kaya. Inside, muezzin Musa Aşgın Tunca led the Pope on a brief tour of the mosque.

Pope Leo has various meetings and visits scheduled throughout the day. Following the visit to the Blue Mosque, he will hold a private meeting with leaders of the local Churches and Christian communities at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem.

Pope Leo becomes the third pope to visit the Blue Mosque, following in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors Francis (in 2014) and Benedict XVI (in 2006). Benedict's visit was only the second time in history that a Pope had visited a mosque, after John Paul II's historic visit to the Umayyad Mosque in Damasus during his Apostolic Journey to Syria in 2001.

Afterwards, in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George, the Holy Father joined in the Doxology together with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.

Watch Vatican Media's video of the visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Y93RgRCWU