Pope visits mosque but does not pray or remove shoes
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Pope Benedict visited a mosque on Saturday in another attempt to mend fences with Islam after a 2006 speech caused offense, and urged Christians and Muslims to jointly defend religion from political manipulation.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope did not remove his shoes or pray while in the mosque, as he did during his first visit to a mosque in Turkey in 2006, but rather paused for "a respectful moment of reflection". Lombardi said the pope did not remove his shoes as he was being shown around the mosque as his hosts did not ask him to. (Reuters)
