Pope Leo XIV’s historic trip to Turkey for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea has drawn international attention after he declined to offer a prayer inside the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, marking a notable departure from recent papal precedent.
According to LifeSiteNews, the pope toured the 17th-century Sultan Ahmed Mosque—known widely as the Blue Mosque—alongside the mosque’s imam and Istanbul’s mufti. The vast structure, capable of holding up to 10,000 people, is one of Turkey’s most significant religious sites.
As is customary, Pope Leo removed his shoes before entering, walking through the mosque in white socks. During the tour, Imam Askin Musa Tunca invited the Holy Father to join in silent prayer. According to LifeSiteNews, the pope “refused, saying he preferred to just visit the mosque.”
The decision represents a shift from the actions of his predecessors. LifeSiteNews notes that Pope Benedict XVI observed a moment of silent “recollection” during his 2006 visit, while Pope Francis participated in what he called a “sincere prayer” in 2014 and described himself as a “pilgrim.”
There also appeared to be confusion within the Vatican regarding the event. Three hours after the visit, a press statement was released indicating that the pope had prayed in the mosque. According to LifeSiteNews, the seemingly pre-written statement “was later rescinded,” with the Holy See explaining that it had been “published in error.” The updated message stated that Pope Leo toured the mosque “in a spirit of reflection and listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer.”
The Blue Mosque was not the only sensitive stop during the Holy Father’s journey. In Ankara, Pope Leo visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic. Atatürk led the nation’s secular reforms but is also associated with the displacement of tens of thousands of Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christians following World War I.
In response to the pope’s participation in the customary wreath-laying ceremony, LifeSiteNews CEO John-Henry Westen wrote on X: “Pope Leo XIV has just laid a wreath at the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk — the leader whose regime completed the destruction of Anatolia’s ancient Christian communities after the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian genocides. Yes, foreign dignitaries usually perform this ritual. But should a Pope honor the architect of an anti-Christian genocide?”
Another notable choice during the trip was Pope Leo’s decision not to visit the Hagia Sophia, once the greatest cathedral of the Byzantine Christian world. According to LifeSiteNews, this breaks from the pattern of previous popes who made a point of visiting the ancient church. Once a Byzantine cathedral, the Hagia Sophia became a mosque in 1453, was converted into a museum under Atatürk in 1934, and returned to mosque status in 2020 under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
As Pope Leo’s trip continues to unfold, Catholics around the world are watching closely, reflecting on the balance between interreligious respect, historical memory, and the church’s longstanding witness in regions long shaped by Christian and Muslim encounter.
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