Crowd braves rain to flock to Pope Leo's mass in Istanbul

After two days of blue skies and sunshine, the heavens opened, but the downpour did little to dampen the enthusiasm of those in attendance, some of whom had travelled for hours to see Leo on his first overseas trip as pope. 

Ahead of the ceremony, the streets were filled with umbrellas as people walked through the rain towards the stadium, the crowd giving off a palpable buzz of excitement. 

"I'm going to the mass, for me it's the first time in my life!" beamed 68-year-old Gigi Moke from the Republic of Congo. 

"This is a historic moment, it's a lot different from seeing someone on TV," said Kasra Esfandiyari, a 27-year-old Iranian Christian refugee who travelled six hours from the western resort city of Izmir with his mum. 

"It was something I could not miss, to feel the presence of all the people here, the presence of the Holy Spirit - and the pope. I'm very happy."

Inside the Volkswagen Arena, which is more used to hosting headline music gigs, an altar had been set up on a red-carpeted platform with tall candles and flowers against the backdrop of a huge cross. 

As Leo entered, dressed in the rich purple chasuble embroidered with gold worn to mark the start of the Advent period leading up to Christmas, many of the 4,000 or so worshippers rose to their feet, an AFP correspondent at the mass said. 

With prayers and readings in many different languages, the service was interwoven with beautiful and haunting choral interludes.

In his address, Leo urged believers to "build bridges of unity" -- within their communities, with Christians from other denominations and "with brothers and sisters belonging to other religions". 

"We want to walk together by appreciating what unites us, breaking down the walls of prejudice and mistrust, promoting mutual knowledge and esteem in order to give to all a strong message of hope," he said. 

- 'Really fantastic' -

Among the crowd were both foreigners and locals, brought together by a shared faith. 

"We're so happy to see the pope, it's a significant visit," said  Istanbul resident Cigdem Asinanyan, expressing hope it would "raise awareness" about Turkey's Christian minority. 

"We travelled for seven hours by bus to get here because for us as Christians, being close to the pope is like being close to God," said Spaniard Elena Gimenez Marques, 44, who lives in Izmir. 

"It's very important that he visited Turkey, which is the cradle of Christianity, it's really fantastic." 

- Next stop Lebanon -

Earlier, the American pope visited the Blue Mosque on his first visit to a Muslim place of worship since becoming pontiff, in a symbolic gesture that followed in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 and Pope Francis in 2014. 

Unlike his predecessors, Leo did not visit the nearby Hagia Sophia, the legendary sixth-century basilica built during the Byzantine Empire, which was converted into a mosque under the Ottoman Empire before becoming a museum under Turkey's modern republic. 

But in 2020, the UNESCO World Heritage site was converted back into a mosque, in a move that drew international condemnation, including from the late Francis who said he was "very saddened".

On Sunday morning, after a prayer service at the Armenian cathedral and leading a divine liturgy, the Orthodox equivalent of a mass, at St George's, he will head to Lebanon for the second leg of his first overseas tour since his election as pope.

bur-hmw/sbk