Pope Francis ‘pained’ by Erdogan’s decision on Hagia Sophia

Pope Francis has joined a chorus of condemnation of Turkey’s decision to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

‘I think of Hagia Sophia, and I am very saddened,’ Pope Francis said on Sunday during his sermon on St Peter’s Square. Picture: AFP

Pope Francis has joined an international chorus of condemnation of Turkey’s decision to convert Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia landmark back into a mosque.

“I think of Hagia Sophia, and I am very saddened,” Pope Francis said towards the end of his midday sermon in Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday. It was the Vatican’s first reaction to Turkey’s decision to transform the Byzantine-era monument back into a mosque.

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, denounced what he described as the “instrumentalisation of religion to partisan or geopolitical ends. The outrage and the arrogance doesn’t just concern the Orthodox Church and Christianity but all of civilised ­humanity … independently of ­religion.”

Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni took a similar view, calling Turkey’s decision “a provocation to the civilised world”.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also condemned the move, not just for the damage it would do to relations between Greece and Turkey, but Ankara’s relations with the EU, UNESCO and the world community.

A magnet for tourists worldwide, the Hagia Sophia was first constructed 1500 years ago as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and it was there they crowned their emperors.

It was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, then became a museum in 1935.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who critics say is chipping away at the country’s secular pillars, announced on ­Friday that Muslim prayers would begin on July 24 at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Several other Christian leaders have already spoken out against Turkey’s decision.

Bishop Hilarion, who heads the Russian Orthodox Church’s department for external church relations, described it as “a blow to global Christianity”.

The World Council of Churches, which represents 350 Christian churches, said it had written to Mr Erdogan expressing its “grief and dismay”.

Mr Erdogan on Saturday dismissed protests from Russia, the US, France and UNESCO, saying Turkish sovereignty was being attacked by those who did not take a step against Islamophobia in their own countries.

Mr Erdogan’s announcement came after a top court cancelled a 1934 cabinet decision under modern Turkey’s secularising founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk to preserve the then church-turned-mosque as a museum.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AFP