BBC.com reports that:
the Pope visited the nearby Hagia Sophia Museum, a site heavy with Christian and Muslim symbolism, drawing protests on the street.
The Pope spent half an hour in Hagia Sophia, a domed complex that was once a Christian centre before becoming a mosque and eventually, a museum.
Was once a Christian Center?
The "Church of the Holy Wisdom of God" is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest churchs of the world. Its conquest by the Ottomans at the fall of Constantinople is considered one of the great tragedies of Christianity by the Greek Orthodox faithful.
When the invading Turks captured Constantinople, they raped the nuns of the Hagia Sophia on the altar and snuffed the votive candles with the severed heads of Christian children. Sultan Mehmet II then decared it a Mosque.
Calling this a "Christian Center" is like calling the Wailing Wall, a really big fence.
8:28:11 AM 
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