Pope Leo Visits Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on First Foreign Journey

The Vatican said Pope Leo 'visited the Mosque in silence, in a spirit of contemplation and listening'Image: Vatican Media/ZUMA/picture alliance via DW

By Rachael Mutabasi
Saturday, November 29, 2025

Pope Leo removed his shoes as a sign of respect during the visit, but did not appear to pray inside the mosque.

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday made his first visit to a mosque since his election in May 2025, stopping at Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on the third day of his Apostolic Journey to Turkey.

The mosque, officially known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is a 17th-century place of worship and one of the most important in Istanbul.

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Pope Leo removed his shoes as a sign of respect during the visit, but did not appear to pray inside the mosque. He toured the interior in his white socks.

According to Vatican News, when Pope Leo arrived at the mosque on Saturday morning, he 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.

The Blue Mosque, completed in 1617 during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I, is famed for more than 21,000 blue and turquoise ceramic tiles from Iznik that cover its walls and dome. The mosque was built on part of the grounds of the former Great Palace of Constantinople, with its construction meticulously recorded in eight volumes preserved at the Topkapi Library.

"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.

Tunca later said he had invited the Pope to pray during the visit. “I offered [to] him, if he would like to worship here, but he said ‘no, I am just going to look around,” he said, noting that he had initially been informed the Pope might pray.

Leo becomes the third pontiff to visit the Blue Mosque, following Pope Francis in 2014 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

According to reports, his predecessors prayed during their visits. Pope Francis spent two minutes in silent prayer while at the mosque, and in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI observed what the Vatican described as a moment of “silent meditation,” and which some saw as the first time a pope had prayed in a Muslim place of worship.