Pope Visits Religious Affairs Directorate

After meeting with Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the pope met with Religious Affairs Directorate head Mehmet Görmez.

Görmez had previously criticized Pope Francis while speaking about the attacks on mosques in Germany. All religious institutions, including the Vatican, should focus on the rise of these attacks against mosques, Görmez had said.

“This doesn't happen through things like washing a young girl's feet or arranging interfaith football games and tournaments,” Görmez had said, in an apparent reference to symbolic gestures displayed recently by Pope Francis. In March of 2013, the pope made international headlines by washing the feet of two Muslims at a juvenile detention center in Rome.

SHOTLIST
TURKEY, ANKARA, 28 NOV 2014

Security precautions in front of the directorate
Arrival of Pope
Görmez welcomes Pope

DURATION: 02:09