POPE PAYS HISTORIC VISIT TO ISTANBULS BLUE MOSQUE. Pope Francis on Saturday stood alongside a top Islamic cleric in a moment of highly-symbolic contemplation at an Ottoman mosque, as he visited Istanbul on his first trip to the former capital of the Christian Byzantine world. On the second day of his visit to overwhelmingly Muslim but officially secular Turkey, Francis toured key religious and historical sites in the city once known as Constantinople which was conquered by the Ottoman army in 1453. The centerpiece of his morning tour was a closely scrutinized visit to the great Sultan Ahmet mosque— known abroad as the Blue Mosque and one of the great masterpieces of Ottoman architecture. The pope paused for two minutes and clasped his hands in reflection, a gesture remarkably similar to that of his predecessor Benedict XVI who visited the mosque on the last papal visit to Turkey in 2006. The pope closed his eyes, clasped his hands in front of his chest beneath the cross he wears around his neck and bowed his head, as he stood next to Istanbul Mufti Rahmi Yaran who performed an Islamic prayer known as the dua.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:34:13 +0000
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