Andalusian Muslims requested permission from Pope Benedict XVI to pray in the mosque-cathedral of Cordoba. Taking as an example the image of the pope praying in the Blue Mosque next to the Grand Mufti of Istanbul during his trip to Turkey, the Islamic Congress of Spain wrote to the Holy Father to ask him if Muslims could be authorized to pray, alongside Catholics, in the “mezquita”, the ancient Grand Mosque of Cordoba, which became a cathedtral seven centuries ago. The Muslim association specified in its letter that its objective was not to “appropriate this place but to honor it, with you and those of other faiths, as a unique ecumenical space in the world.”
