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Pope 'Very Pained' by Decision to Turn Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Museum into Mosque

The dome of the Hagia Sophia. (AFP)
The dome of the Hagia Sophia. (AFP)
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Pope 'Very Pained' by Decision to Turn Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Museum into Mosque

The dome of the Hagia Sophia. (AFP)
The dome of the Hagia Sophia. (AFP)

Pope Francis said on Sunday he was hurt by Turkey’s decision to make Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum a mosque, the latest religious leader to condemn the move.

“My thoughts go to Istanbul. I think of Santa Sophia and I am very pained,” he said during his weekly blessing in St. Peter’s Square.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the first prayers would be held in Hagia Sophia on July 24, after declaring the ancient monument was once again a mosque following a court ruling revoking its status as a museum.

The World Council of Churches has called on Erdogan to reverse his decision and Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, called it disappointing.

Erdogan said the nearly 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia, which was once a Christian cathedral, would remain open to Muslims, Christians and foreigners.

He added that Turkey had exercised its sovereign right in converting it to a mosque and would interpret criticism of the move as an attack on its independence.

Greece has condemned the move and UNESCO said its World Heritage Committee would review Hagia Sophia’s status and that Turkey’s decision raised questions about the impact on its universal value as a site of importance transcending borders and generations.

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US Sanctions Beijing-based Cyber Group for Alleged Hacking Role

(FILES) The US Treasury Department building is seen in Washington, DC, January 19, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
(FILES) The US Treasury Department building is seen in Washington, DC, January 19, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
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US Sanctions Beijing-based Cyber Group for Alleged Hacking Role

(FILES) The US Treasury Department building is seen in Washington, DC, January 19, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
(FILES) The US Treasury Department building is seen in Washington, DC, January 19, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

The US Treasury on Friday sanctioned a Beijing-based cybersecurity company for its alleged role in multiple hacking incidents targeting critical US infrastructure.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control hit Integrity Technology Group, Inc. with sanctions Friday morning, for conducting multiple hacks against US victims, including incidents attributed to Flax Typhoon, a Chinese state-sponsored campaign that targets US critical infrastructure.

The sanctions come a few days after Treasury reported that Chinese hackers remotely accessed several US Treasury Department workstations and unclassified documents in a major cybersecurity incident.

The Treasury Department said it learned of the problem on Dec. 8, when a third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, flagged that hackers had stolen a key “used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support” to workers.

Friday's sanctions do not appear to be related to the Dec. 8 Treasury hack.
According to The Associated Press, Treasury Acting Under Secretary Bradley Smith said the US will disrupt cyber threats "as we continue working collaboratively to harden public and private sector cyber defenses.”

The sanctions block access to US property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.
US officials are continuing to grapple with the fallout of a massive Chinese cyberespionage campaign known as Salt Typhoon that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.