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.



French High School Student is Arrested after Fatally Stabbing Another Student, Wounding 3

A Police Municipal officer surrounds the scene of a crime with a Police tape as French military of the Sentinelle Operation stand at the high school Notre-Dame de Toutes-Aides after a knife attack in Nantes, western France, on April 24, 2025.  (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)
A Police Municipal officer surrounds the scene of a crime with a Police tape as French military of the Sentinelle Operation stand at the high school Notre-Dame de Toutes-Aides after a knife attack in Nantes, western France, on April 24, 2025. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)
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French High School Student is Arrested after Fatally Stabbing Another Student, Wounding 3

A Police Municipal officer surrounds the scene of a crime with a Police tape as French military of the Sentinelle Operation stand at the high school Notre-Dame de Toutes-Aides after a knife attack in Nantes, western France, on April 24, 2025.  (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)
A Police Municipal officer surrounds the scene of a crime with a Police tape as French military of the Sentinelle Operation stand at the high school Notre-Dame de Toutes-Aides after a knife attack in Nantes, western France, on April 24, 2025. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

A student at a French high school stabbed four other students at his school Thursday, killing at least one and injuring three others before being arrested, police said.
The circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear. Fatal attacks are quite rare in French schools.
A national police official said the attack occurred at the private Catholic Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides High School in Nantes on France’s Atlantic coast.
The student stabbed four people with a knife during a lunch break before teachers subdued him, and he was later taken in by police, The Associated Press quoted the official as saying. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to national police policy.
Students at the school told French media at the scene that they had received an email from the assailant earlier in the day with unspecified grievances.
Education Minister Elisabeth Borne said on X that she is heading to the school with Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to show “solidarity with victims and the school community.″ The regional prosecutor announced a news conference for later Thursday.
Images from the scene showed police and armed military forces surrounding the school as the investigation got underway.
An official at the school, which is part of a complex housing a primary and middle school, would not comment on what happened, saying the school is concentrating on caring for the students who were on campus at the time.