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In reply to the discussion: Pope removes shoes but doesn't pray on visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque [View all]lapucelle
(20,923 posts)26. It may have had something to do with the way that the invitation was extended.
Praying at a mosque and worshiping at a mosque are two different things.
I offered [to] him, if he would like to worship here, but he said no, I am just going to look around, Tunca said afterwards, explaining that they told me the pope was going to pray here.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/29/europe/pope-leo-istanbul-blue-mosque-intl
Leo did not pray at the mosque despite an invitation by an imam. Speaking to reporters after the visit, Asgin Tunca said he had told the pope that the mosque was "Allah's house."
"It's not my house, not your house, (it's the) house of Allah," he said. He said he told Leo: "'If you want, you can worship here,' I said. But he said, 'That's OK.'"
"It's not my house, not your house, (it's the) house of Allah," he said. He said he told Leo: "'If you want, you can worship here,' I said. But he said, 'That's OK.'"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-leo-xiv-travel-blue-mosque-istanbul-turkey/
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Pope removes shoes but doesn't pray on visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque [View all]
Polybius
Yesterday
OP
His precedessors did, and the Vatican press release had expected him to
muriel_volestrangler
Yesterday
#5
" he asked Leo during the tour if he wished to pray for a moment, but the pope said he preferred to just visit"
muriel_volestrangler
Yesterday
#22
It may have had something to do with the way that the invitation was extended.
lapucelle
23 hrs ago
#26
My two cents are in too. We are up to four. Believers are upset when confronted but non-believers are cast as being odd.
twodogsbarking
Yesterday
#16
I have learned to not try and explain what I do not understand. Atheist seems to be a religious label.
twodogsbarking
18 hrs ago
#34
Maybe he thought a Catholic praying in a mosque would have been sacrilegious
jmowreader
19 hrs ago
#31
If the Pope is his god's representative, then he can pray wherever he happens to be. If a mosque somehow magically
Martin68
18 hrs ago
#33
So do many museums, the Red Cross and both political parties. What's your point?
Wonder Why
Yesterday
#18
Since he wasn't invited to (by the person who didn't come) maybe it would have been
pnwmom
Yesterday
#20
I don't buy that. They both believe in one god, and they both believe on prayer.
Martin68
18 hrs ago
#35