Pope visits famous Blue Mosque in Turkey as he focuses on unifying Christians

Pope Leo toured the Blue Mosque in Istanbul (Domenico Stinellis/AP)

Pope Leo XIV has visited Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque but did not stop to pray, as he opened an intense day of meetings and liturgies with Turkey’s Christian leaders where he again emphasised the need for Christians to be united.

Leo took his shoes off and, in his white socks, toured the the 17th-century mosque, looking up at its soaring tiled domes and the Arabic inscriptions on its columns as an imam pointed them out to him.