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During Pope Francis’ visit to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, he paused for a moment of prayer alongside Ankara’s Grand Mufti – a moment of “interreligious dialogue” which mirrored that of his predecessor.
“(It was) a beautiful moment of interreligious dialogue, and it the exact same thing happened in 2006 with Pope Benedict, it was exactly the same.” Pope Francis’ visit to the historic Sultan Ahmet Mosque, known as the “Blue Mosque” due to the blue tiles covering the inside, marks the third time a Pope has ever gone inside, the first being St. John Paul II in 1979. The Bishop of Rome was accompanied into the mosque by Ankara’s Grand Mufti Mehmet Görmez and two imam. After entering, the Grand Mufti explained to the Pope some versus from the Quran in which Niqab spoke of Zachariah, the birth of John the Baptist, of Elizabeth and Mary. Once the Grand Mufti finished speaking, he and the Pope “took a moment of silence, a silent adoration (and) the Pope said twice to the Muftì: we must adore God,” Fr. Lombardi said. It was a true moment of interreligious dialogue, he observed, noting that afterward the Grand Mufti cited more versus of the Quran which refer to God as a God of love and justice. Fr. Lombardi recalled how the Mufti said to Pope Francis that “’on that we are agreed.’ And the Pope said: ‘Yes, on that we are agreed.’ It was also a beautiful moment of dialogue.”
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