Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque and celebrated Mass on Saturday on the second day of his trip to Turkey as he stressed the need for Christian unity.

Leo was following in the footsteps of his recent predecessors, who all made high-profile visits to the mosque in a gesture of respect to Turkey’s Muslim majority. Leo did not pray at the mosque despite an invitation by an imam.

After the mosque visit, Leo met with Turkey’s Christian leaders at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem. Later Saturday, he celebrated Mass before 4,000 faithful at Istanbul's VW Arena, where he appeared alongside Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew and appealed for unity among Christians and other faiths.

This is the pope's first foreign trip. He will also visit Lebanon.

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