Pope Leo XIV began the third day of his first Apostolic Journey to Turkey with a visit on Saturday to Istanbul’s famed Sultan Ahmed Mosque — widely known as the Blue Mosque.
According to the Holy See Press Office, “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.”
Completed in 1617 under Sultan Ahmed I on part of the former Great Palace of Constantinople, the mosque remains one of the most significant religious landmarks in the city.
The stop marked the American pontiff’s first entrance into a Muslim house of worship since he was elected in May to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, succeeding the late Pope Francis. The Blue Mosque, a major draw for visitors with its six minarets, layered domes and distinctive blue Iznik-tiled interior, has become a symbolic destination for recent popes. Leo’s visit follows those of Benedict XVI in 2006 and Francis in 2014.
As is customary, the Pope removed his shoes before stepping inside, padding across the mosque’s burnt orange carpeting in white socks — a detail observers linked playfully to his beloved Chicago White Sox.
He spent roughly 15 minutes inside while Muslim officials guided him through the vast interior. A stray crow circled overhead beneath the domes, cawing as it searched for an exit, an AFP reporter travelling with the papal delegation noted.
“He wanted to see the mosque, he wanted to feel the atmosphere of the mosque and he was very pleased,” said Askin Tunca, the Blue Mosque’s muezzin.
Outside, crowds of onlookers — many of them tourists — waited behind heavy security barriers.
“The pope’s travels are always a very beautiful thing because he brings peace with him,” said Roberta Ribola, a 50-year-old visitor from northern Italy.
Sedat Kezer, a 33-year-old street vendor selling grilled corn, welcomed the gesture. “It’s good that people from different cultures meet, especially as foreigners are riddled with Islamophobia,” he said. But he added that, “The pope would seem more sincere if he mingled with the public. No one can see or interact with him.”
Not everyone supported the visit. “The pope has no business here,” complained Bekir Sarikaya, a Turkish tourist who said his parents had “travelled 1,000 kilometres” to pray but were turned away. His wife disagreed: “We can visit the churches of Istanbul, so he has the right to visit our mosques.”
Unlike recent pontiffs, Leo skipped the nearby Hagia Sophia — the sixth-century Byzantine basilica turned Ottoman mosque and later a museum. Türkiye’s 2020 decision to reconvert the UNESCO-listed monument into a mosque sparked international criticism, including from the late Francis, who said he was “very saddened.”
Later on Saturday, Leo is scheduled to meet local Christian leaders and take part in a short service at the Patriarchal Church of St George. He will then visit Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at his residence along the Golden Horn, where the two will sign a still-undisclosed joint declaration.
The Pope will celebrate Mass at Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena at 1400 GMT, with around 4,000 worshippers expected. On Sunday, after a prayer service at the Armenian cathedral and presiding over a divine liturgy at St George’s, Leo will depart for Lebanon — the second stop on his first overseas trip as pontiff.