Pope Francis In Turkey, Prays At Blue Mosque (PHOTOS)
With his head bowed toward Mecca, Pope Francis, the pontiff of the 1.2-billion strong Roman Catholic faith, showed his genuine solidarity with Islam religion, often ridiculed and described as culprit of most of the world's present acts of terrorism.
For two minutes, Pope Francis, who took off his shoes, prayed silently in the 17th-century Sultan Ahmet mosque on Saturday. Beside him was Rahmi Yaran, the Grand Mufti of Istanbul. Yaran told the Pope later that "may God accept" their joint "moment of silent adoration." The Ahmet Mosque is known as the Blue Mosque. Pope Francis was clearly in awe of the mosque as Yaran gave him a tour.
The pope's gesture, made on the second day of his three-day Turkey visit, was clearly to promote Christian-Muslim relations. As the Muslim call to prayer rang out across the Sultanahmet square, school children waving Turkish and Vatican flags chanted "Long live Pope Francis" in Italian.
"@FrancisXRocca: #PopeFrancis in Blue Mosque bowed head, closed eyes and folded hands as imam prayed aloud" pic.twitter.com/cGfiolU3fT
— Catholic News Svc (@CatholicNewsSvc) November 29, 2014
He was not the first Roman Catholic pope to have had made a joint prayer with Muslim brothers. His predecessor, Pope Benedict, had done a similar act in 2006. However, it drew much criticism and flak from both conservative Catholics and some Muslims.
On Sunday, Pope Francis urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and urged Muslim leaders worldwide to all join hands to "clearly" condemn terrorism carried out in the name of Islam. "That would help the majority of Muslims if that came from the mouths of these political, religious and academic leaders. We all have need of a global condemnation," the AFP quoted the spiritual leader.
He said it would be unfair to brand all Muslims as "terrorists" since not all Christians are fundamentalists. Halil Ibrahim Cil, a hospital worker from Istanbul, told Reuters they hoped the pope's visit will help people to understand Islam. "We want to practise our religion in peace. We don't want war."
On the last day of his weekend trip to Turkey, at a joint service with Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual head of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians, he said believers of all faiths can not and must not remain indifferent to the cries of the victims of the "inhumane and brutal" war next door. Turkey neighbours Syria and Iraq.
