Source: ET
Like Francis, Benedict had turned towards Mecca in what many saw as a stunning gesture of reconciliation between Islam and Christianity.
A Vatican spokesperson described Francis’ gesture as a “silent adoration”, using a term for religious reverence, making clear he did not perform a prayer.
He then toured the Hagia Sophia, the great Byzantine church that was turned into a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople but then became a secular museum for all in modern day Turkey.
Categories: Asia