Pope Francis said he was "very distressed" Sunday by the conversion decided by Turkey from the former Hagia Sophia to a mosque, after the prayer of the Angelus. “My thought goes to Istanbul, I think of Hagia Sophia. I am very distressed, ”said the Argentine pope briefly, coming out of the planned speech.
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The Pope's words represent the Vatican's first comment on the Turkish decision. L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily, had factually reported the events the day before, citing the main international reactions, but without commenting.
A major architectural work built in the 6th century by the Byzantines who crowned their emperors there, Hagia Sophia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the main tourist attractions in Istanbul with some 3.8 million visitors in 2019.
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Converted into a mosque after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, it was transformed into a museum in 1934 by the leader of the young Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal, anxious to "offer it to humanity".
Several countries, notably Russia and Greece, which closely follow the fate of Byzantine heritage in Turkey, as well as the United States and France, had in particular warned Ankara against the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a place of Muslim worship , a measure for which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, from an Islamo-conservative party, has campaigned for years.
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