Did Pope Leo pray in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque? Not visibly, at least

As Pope Leo XIV, on the first international trip of his papacy, visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul on Saturday, all eyes were on him to see if he would, like his last two predecessors, pray alongside Muslim clerics.

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Leo, the first pontiff from the United States, did not appear to do so — at least not visibly.

Shortly after the pope departed, Asgin Musa Tunca, the mosque’s muezzin, who calls the faithful to prayer, told reporters that he had invited the pope to pray inside the 17th-century place of worship, which is also known as the Blue Mosque.

Tunca said that he had been told the pope would pray in the mosque but that Leo demurred. “That's OK,’” the pope said, according to Tunca.