Pope removes shoes but doesn't pray on visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque

[blue-wave]

27. I interpret this as the Pope sending a message

against the anti-Christian Erdogan regime. In 2020 Erdogan converted the Hagia Sophia (Once the Byzantine Roman Empire's Cathedral) to a mosque. The site of Hagia Sophia was the center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity since the first church was built on the site in 360 AD. In 537 AD the Hagia Sophia was completed and was an architectural marvel as the largest interior space in the world. When the Muslims defeated the Byzantines at Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453 AD, the Hagia converted to a mosque. But in 1935 it converted to a museum by the Turkish government under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, aiming to promote secularism and cultural heritage in the newly established Republic of Turkey. This change allowed it to serve as a symbol of interfaith harmony and a historical site accessible to all, regardless of religion. Erdogan is changing all that.

https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-134/the-hagia-sophia-case/

Now, Christians cannot pray on or enter the main floor of the Hagia Sophia and must pay admission to enter the Hagia, unlike Muslims who pay no admittance fee. There's much more to the story of what's happening in Turkey and elsewhere which would require many hours of deep-dive investigating. If you're interested, I highly recommend looking into this.

BTW, the Hagia Sophia is a short walk down the street from the blue mosque.