Pope ‘very pained’ by decision to flip Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum into mosque

File photo.

VATICAN City: Pope Francis explained on Sunday he was harm by Turkey‘s determination to make Istanbul‘s Hagia Sophia museum a mosque, the newest spiritual chief to condemn the go.
“My views go to Istanbul. I believe of Santa Sophia and I am really pained,” he claimed for the duration of his weekly blessing in St. Peter’s Square.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has stated the first prayers would be held in Hagia Sophia on July 24, following declaring the historic monument was when all over again a mosque next a court ruling revoking its position as a museum.
The Entire world Council of Church buildings has identified as on Erdogan to reverse his conclusion and Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-primarily based non secular leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, named it disappointing.
Erdogan reported the virtually 1,500-calendar year-previous Hagia Sophia, which was when a Christian cathedral, would keep on being open to Muslims, Christians and foreigners.
He added that Turkey experienced exercised its sovereign appropriate in changing it to a mosque and would interpret criticism of the shift as an attack on its independence.
Greece has condemned the transfer and UNESCO claimed its Planet Heritage Committee would review Hagia Sophia’s position and that Turkey’s conclusion elevated thoughts about the influence on its common price as a web page of importance transcending borders and generations.