ISTANBUL —  Pope Francis on Saturday paused for two minutes and clasped his hands in reflection during a visit to the Sultan Ahmet mosque (Blue Mosque) in Istanbul.



The pope closed his eyes, clasped his hands in front of his chest and bowed his head, as he stood next to Istanbul Mufti Rahmi Yaran "May God accept it," Yaram told the Pope, at the end of the prayer aimed at showing respect for Islam and encouraging interfaith relations.



Francis’ gesture was remarkably similar to that of his predecessor Benedict XVI who visited the mosque on the last papal visit to Turkey in 2006.



Benedict assumed the Muslim attitude of prayer and turned towards Makkah in what many saw as a stunning gesture of reconciliation between Islam and Christianity.



The Vatican later made clear he had not actually prayed in the mosque but was “in meditation” and had indicated that Pope Francis would make a similar gesture in this visit.



Francis then left the Sultan Ahmet mosque — known abroad as the Blue Mosque and one of the great masterpieces of Ottoman architecture — and headed to his visit of the Hagia Sophia museum.



Earlier, Francis nodded, smiled and looked up in awe as Yaram gave him a tour of the mosque which is famed for its elaborate blue tiles and cascading domes.



Benedict had visited Turkey amid heightened Christian-Muslim tensions and prayed at the mosque in a gesture that was appreciated by many Turks. The Vatican added the stop at the Blue Mosque at the last minute to show Benedict's respect for Muslims.



Francis is also set to visit the nearby Haghia Sofia, which was the main Byzantine church in Constantinople — present-day Istanbul — before being turned into a mosque after the Muslim conquest of the city in 1453.



Francis nearly tripped over while walking the carpet from his plane to a VIP terminal at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, with the governor of Istanbul and Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christian helping him when he tottered.



Meeting with Turkish leaders in the capital Ankara a day earlier, Francis urged Muslim leaders to condemn the "barbaric violence" being committed in Islam's name against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. He reaffirmed that military force was justified to halt the self-proclaimed Islamic State group's advance, and called for greater dialogue among Christians, Muslims and people of all faiths to end fundamentalism. — Agencies