Live from Istanbul — Pope Leo XIV visits the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the famous “Blue Mosque”, decorated with over 21,000 Iznik tiles and illuminated by 260 windows. After a moment of silent prayer, the Pope continues to a private meeting at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem with Christian leaders.

Pope Leo XIV is in Istanbul this morning, making a highly symbolic visit to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, better known worldwide as the Blue Mosque, a landmark moment in his first apostolic journey outside Italy. You can follow the visit in real time in our live video feed.

The pope arrived at the 17th-century Ottoman masterpiece on the city’s historic peninsula under tight security, greeted by Prof. Dr. Safi Arpaguş, the recently appointed head of Türkiye’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet). Arpaguş is accompanying the pontiff inside the mosque, where the program includes a formal welcome and a brief moment of silent prayer.
Rome Reports

Standing in a line of historic papal gestures

The Blue Mosque, completed in 1617 under Sultan Ahmed I, is one of Islam’s most recognizable houses of worship, famed for its six minarets and its interior lined with thousands of İznik tiles in shades of blue that give the building its popular name. It forms part of Istanbul’s UNESCO-listed historic core, facing directly onto Hagia Sophia across Sultanahmet Square.

Pope Leo is the latest in a short line of popes to cross the threshold of the mosque. Pope Benedict XVI paused there in silent prayer in 2006, followed by Pope Francis in 2014, both moments widely seen as powerful signs of respect toward the Muslim community and as milestones in Catholic–Muslim dialogue.

For Leo XIV, the first American pope and only months into his pontificate, today’s visit adds another strong image to a trip already marked by gestures of outreach: meetings with Turkish leaders, encounters with Christian minority communities, and ecumenical prayer in İznik (ancient Nicaea), the city of the Nicene Creed.

A visit framed by dialogue and peace

The stop at the Blue Mosque comes as part of a six-day journey to Turkey and Lebanon focused on peace, interreligious understanding, and Christian unity. In Ankara, Leo called on Turkey to act as a bridge of stability amid conflicts stretching from Ukraine to the Middle East, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted the country’s long tradition of religious coexistence and welcomed the pope’s decision to visit the mosque as a “symbol” of constructive relations with Muslims.

Throughout the trip, the pope has repeatedly insisted that faith must never be used to justify violence or extremism, urging believers of all traditions to choose the paths of “encounter, dialogue, and cooperation” instead.

Today’s visit to the Blue Mosque fits squarely into that message: a quiet, carefully choreographed moment in which the head of the Catholic Church enters one of Islam’s most celebrated sanctuaries as a guest, listens to words of welcome from Turkish religious authorities, and stands in silence before God alongside Muslim hosts.

For Turkey’s small Catholic community, as well as for many Muslims watching across the region, the images coming from the Blue Mosque today are loaded with meaning. They recall the tense global climate in which Benedict XVI’s visit took place in 2006, the renewed emphasis on interfaith friendship under Francis, and now Leo XIV’s own effort to root his pontificate in the language of reconciliation.

The visit also underscores Istanbul’s unique role as a meeting place of worlds: a city where church domes and mosque minarets share the same skyline, and where the pope’s schedule includes encounters with Orthodox patriarchs, Muslim authorities, and Jewish leaders within a single trip.

As Pope Leo XIV walks beneath the cascading domes of the Blue Mosque, surrounded by Qur’anic calligraphy and Ottoman tiles, the moment is meant to speak more loudly than any speech: a visual pledge that, even in an age of war and suspicion, believers can stand side by side in prayerful silence.

You can watch the visit unfold live in our video player and follow updates as this historic stop in Istanbul continues.