European bishops slam Hagia Sophia conversion

European Catholic bishops expressed dismay at the Turkish decision to convert the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul from a museum into a mosque. (File/AFP)

• The World Council of Churches wrote a letter to Turkey’s president calling for the decision to be reversed
• The UNESCO-listed Hagia Sophia was completed in 537 AD by Byzantine Emperor Justinian

ROME: After Pope Francis spoke of being “very saddened” by the conversion of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul from a museum into a mosque, European Catholic bishops expressed dismay at the Turkish decision.
“Converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque distances Turkey from Europe, and it is a blow to the Orthodox Church and to interreligious dialogue,” Manuel Barrios Prieto, general secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), told Arab News.
The World Council of Churches, which counts 350 churches as members, wrote a letter to Turkey’s president calling for the decision to be reversed.
In a press statement, COMECE said the decision regarding Hagia Sophia “is a blow to interreligious dialogue,” a field where, according to a 2019 European Commission report, Turkey has “a serious problem,” particularly in relation to hate speech and threats directed against national, ethnic and religious minorities.
The EU Commission report said such hate speech in the media and by public officials had continued despite “discussions between the Government and representatives of minorities.”
It added that continued “attacks or acts of vandalism” against minority places of worship “need to be investigated,” and that “full respect for and protection of language, religion, culture and fundamental rights in accordance with European standards have yet to be fully achieved.”
The Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Turkey (CET) also denounced the decision regarding the 1,500-year-old Byzantine building.
“Although we would wish Hagia Sophia to retain its character as a museum, we are a church deprived of juridical status, so we cannot give any advice on this country’s internal questions,” the CET said in a statement sent to the Catholic News Service.
The UNESCO-listed Hagia Sophia was completed in 537 AD by Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and for centuries served as one of the world’s most important centers of Christianity.
The cathedral was converted into an imperial mosque about 550 years ago after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), and in 1934 became a museum on the orders of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic.