Pope visits Istanbul's Blue Mosque without praying as he focuses on unifying Christians

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul's iconic Blue Mosque on Saturday but didn't stop to pray, as he focused more on bolstering ties with Orthodox patriarchs and promoting courageous steps for Eastern and Western churches to be united.

Leo took off his shoes and, in his white socks, toured the 17th-century mosque, looking up at its soaring tiled domes and the Arabic inscriptions on its columns as an imam pointed them out to him.

The Vatican said Leo would observe a "brief moment of silent prayer" in the mosque, but he didn't. An imam of the mosque, Asgin Tunca, said he invited Leo to pray, since the mosque was "Allah's house," but the pope declined.

Later, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: "The pope experienced his visit to the mosque in silence, in a spirit of contemplation and listening, with deep respect for the place and the faith of those who gather there in prayer."

Leo, history's first American pope, followed in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, who all made high-profile visits to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, as it is officially known, in a gesture of respect to Turkey's Muslim majority.

Those visits always raised questions about whether the pope would pray in the Muslim house of worship.

When Pope Benedict XVI visited Turkey in 2006, tensions were high because Benedict offended many in the Muslim world a few months earlier with a speech in Regensburg, Germany, that was widely interpreted as linking Islam and violence.

The Vatican added a visit to the Blue Mosque at the last minute in a bid to reach out to Muslims. He observed a moment of silent prayer, head bowed, as the imam prayed next to him, facing east.

Benedict later thanked him "for this moment of prayer" for what was only the second time a pope had visited a mosque; St. John Paul II visited one briefly in Syria in 2001.

In 2014, Pope Francis visited the Blue Mosque and stood for two minutes of silent prayer facing east, head bowed, eyes closed and hands clasped in front of him.

With Leo, though, even the Vatican seemed caught off guard by his decision not to pray. The Holy See had to correct the official record of the visit after it originally kept the planned reference to him pausing for prayer.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, the imam Tunca said he told the pope: "It's not my house, not your house, (it's the) house of Allah." He said he invited Leo to worship "But he said, 'That's OK.'"

"He wanted to see the mosque, wanted to feel (the) atmosphere of the mosque, I think. And was very pleased," he said.

In the afternoon, Leo prayed with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew, at the patriarchal church of Saint George.

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There, they prayed the Doxology, a hymn of praise and glory to God, and signed a joint declaration vowing to take courageous steps on the path to unity including to find a common date for Easter.

Eastern and Western churches split in the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope. While ties warmed, they remain divided and other schisms formed.

"It is our shared desire to continue the process of exploring a possible solution for celebrating together the Feast of Feasts every year," the joint statement said, referring to Easter.

The Vatican said in his remarks to the patriarchs gathered, Leo pointed to the next Holy Year to be celebrated by Christians, in 2033 on the anniversary of Christ's crucifixion, and invited them to go to Jerusalem on "a journey that leads to full unity."

Leo's final event was a Catholic Mass in Istanbul's Volkswagen Arena for the country's Catholic community, who number 33,000 in a country of more than 85 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslim.

Renato Marai was among a group of 26 visitors from Florence, Italy, who traveled to Istanbul to see the pope. "It's wonderful to see him on his first foreign trip, a really important moment for our group," he said.

Tarcin Unlu, meanwhile, was among many Turkish attendees, a recent convert to Christianity from Islam. "I became Christian because I thought it was the best religion for me but my family is definitely not happy," Unlu said.

Her friend, Rodrick Nuel, originally from Nigeria's Biafra region but now living in northern Cyprus, said the papal visit sent a "a powerful message for the global Christian community."

"Also, as Turkey is 99.9% Muslim and just 0.1% Christian, it shows the pope is reaching out to other religions as well," he added.

While Leo was focusing on bolstering relations with Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Muslims, trip organizers dealt with more mundane issues.

Leo's ITA Airways Airbus A320neo charter was among those caught up in the worldwide Airbus software update ordered by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The order came after an analysis found the computer code may have contributed to a sudden drop in the altitude of a JetBlue plane last month.

The Vatican spokesman, Bruni, said the necessary monitor to update the aircraft was on its way to Istanbul from Rome along with the technician who would install it.

Leo was scheduled to fly from Istanbul to Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday for the second leg of his inaugural trip as pope.

Photos: A new pope, Leo XIV, is chosen