Courtney McGrailA day after hearing Turkish leaders demand the West show more respect for Islam, Pope Francis prayed alongside a Muslim cleric inside Istanbul's most famous mosque.
At the Blue Mosque, Istanbul's grand mufti Rahmi Yaran led Pope Francis to the mosque's "mihrab," a niche indicating the direction to the holy city Mecca. He explained that the name is related to that of Jesus's mother, Mary, who is revered by Muslims.
Then, as the grand mufti continued speaking, the pope fell silent and remained so for several minutes, with head bowed, eyes closed and hands clasped in front of him. A Vatican statement later described this as a "moment of silent adoration".
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, an early 17th-century structure, is known as the Blue Mosque for the predominant colour of the 21,000 tiles decorating its interior. The Pope's November 29 visit had been scheduled for later in the morning but was moved up, out of concern that it would interfere with noon prayers.
The event recalled the last papal visit to Turkey, in 2006, when Pope Benedict XVI's prayer in the same mosque went far to ease an international furore over his speech in Regensburg, Germany, which had quoted a medieval description of the teachings of Islam's prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman”.