His head bowed and hands clasped in front of him, Pope Francis stood today for two minutes of silent prayer facing east inside one of Istanbul’s most important mosques, as he shifted gears toward more religious affairs on the second leg of his three-day visit to mainly Muslim Turkey.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed beside an Islamic cleric in one of Turkey’s most famous mosques today in a dramatic gesture of outreach to Muslims, after causing outrage with remarks linking violence and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.