Pope Leo XIV visited the famous Sultan Ahmet Mosque, or Blue Mosque, in Istanbul, on the third day of his trip to Turkey.
It was the first time the American pope, elected in May as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, had visited a Muslim place of worship since taking office from his late predecessor, Francis.
The mosque is one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, with six minarets and a domed roof, while its interior is lined with blue tiles.
With such a symbolic gesture, Leo follows in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI, who visited the country in 2006, and Francis, who did the same in 2014.
But the gesture that stood out was that the Pope, like all visitors, took off his shoes to enter the mosque.
"He wanted to see the mosque, he wanted to feel the atmosphere of the mosque and he was very pleased," said Askin Tunca, the Blue Mosque's muezzin. /Telegraph/
