Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Thousands of Muslims converged on Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia on Friday to take part in the first prayers in 86 years, at what was once one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to attend the inaugural prayers inside the sixth-century monument as he fulfills what he’s described as the “dream of our youth” anchored in Turkey’s Islamic movement, per the AP. Thousands of people, including many from across Turkey, quickly filled specially designated, segregated areas outside of Hagia Sophia to be part of the first prayers; several camped near the structure overnight. Dozens of worshipers broke through a police checkpoint, and social distancing practices, in place due to COVID-19, were being ignored, per Turkish media. Orthodox church leaders in Greece and the United States, meanwhile, were scheduled to observe “a day of mourning” over the inaugural prayers. Erdogan had issued a decree restoring the building as a mosque earlier this month, shortly after a Turkish high court ruled that Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had been illegally made into a museum more than eight decades ago. The move sparked dismay in Greece and the US and among Christian churches who called on Erdogan to maintain it as a museum as a nod to the structure’s status as a sign of Christian and Muslim unity. “Today is a difficult day,” a Greek government spokesman told local media. Erdogan disagrees. “This is Hagia Sophia breaking away from its captivity chains,” he said last week. Turkey vows to protect Hagia Sophia’s artifacts and says it will remain open to Muslims and non-Muslims outside of prayer hours. NEWSER

Pope Francis Says 2% of Clergy Are Pedophiles

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2% of Clergy Are Pedophiles: Pope Francis
Pontiff hints at possible changes to priest celibacy

Pope Francis has offered an estimate on “the level of pedophilia in the Church,” Sky News reports: He puts it at 2%, basing his information on aides’ figures. “That 2% includes priests and even bishops and cardinals,” the pope tells La Repubblica newspaper of Italy. “Others, more numerous, know (about the problem) but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason,” he says, per the BBC.

The figure would suggest that some 8,000 out of 414,000 clergy members worldwide are pedophiles, the BBC notes. Francis compares the issue to “leprosy” and intends to “confront it with the severity it demands.” In the interview, the pontiff also discusses the possibility of priests marrying. Celibacy, he notes, wasn’t instituted until “900 years after Our Lord’s death.” He adds: “This needs time, but there are solutions, and I will find them.”

Pope Francis Easter Message 'Urbi Et Orbi'

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The following is the text of the Vatican’s official English-language translation of Pope Francis’ Easter Sunday “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for ‘to the city and to the world’) read by him in Italian from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Easter!

The Church throughout the world echoes the angel’s message to the women: “Do not be afraid! I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised . Come, see the place where he lay” (Mt 28:5-6).

This is the culmination of the Gospel, it is the Good News par excellence: Jesus, who was crucified, is risen! This event is the basis of our faith and our hope. If Christ were not raised, Christianity would lose its very meaning; the whole mission of the Church would lose its impulse, for this is the point from which it first set out and continues to set out ever anew. The message which Christians bring to the world is this: Jesus, Love incarnate, died on the cross for our sins, but God the Father raised him and made him the Lord of life and death. In Jesus, love has triumphed over hatred, mercy over sinfulness, goodness over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death.

That is why we tell everyone: “Come and see!” In every human situation, marked by frailty, sin and death, the Good News is no mere matter of words, but a testimony to unconditional and faithful love: it is about leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life’s troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast. “Come and see!”: Love is more powerful, love gives life, love makes hope blossom in the wilderness.

With this joyful certainty in our hearts, today we turn to you, risen Lord!

Help us to seek you and to find you, to realize that we have a Father and are not orphans; that we can love and adore you.

Help us to overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible.

Enable us to protect the vulnerable, especially children, women and the elderly, who are at times exploited and abandoned.

Enable us to care for our brothers and sisters struck by the Ebola epidemic in Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and to care for those suffering from so many other diseases which are also spread through neglect and dire poverty.

Comfort all those who cannot celebrate this Easter with their loved ones because they have been unjustly torn from their affections, like the many persons, priests and laity, who in various parts of the world have been kidnapped.

Comfort those who have left their own lands to migrate to places offering hope for a better future and the possibility of living their lives in dignity and, not infrequently, of freely professing their faith.

We ask you, Lord Jesus, to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent.

We pray in a particular way for Syria, that all those suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid and that neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the defenseless civil population, but instead boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue!

We ask you to comfort the victims of fratricidal acts of violence in Iraq and to sustain the hopes raised by the resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

We beg for an end to the conflicts in the Central African Republic and a halt to the brutal terrorist attacks in parts of Nigeria and the acts of violence in South Sudan.

We ask that hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord in Venezuela.

By your resurrection, which this year we celebrate together with the Churches that follow the Julian calendar, we ask you to enlighten and inspire the intiatives that promote peace in Ukraine so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence and, in a spirit of unity and dialogue, chart a path for the country’s future.

Lord, we pray to you for all the peoples of the earth: You who have conquered death, grant us your life, grant us your peace!”
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I Take 'Personal Responsibility' for Abuse – Pope Francis

Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the Catholic Church’s various sexual abuse scandals today, reports the AP, which notes that it is the first time he, or any pope, has taken responsibility for them. “I feel compelled to take personal responsibility for all the evil that some priests” inflicted on their victims, he said in off-the-cuff remarks to the International Catholic Child Bureau. He vowed to take even stronger actions on the issue, saying, “You don’t play around with the lives of children.”

But the declaration wasn’t enough to satisfy many abuse advocates, the New York Times reports. “#Pope Francis needs to address the cover up and facilitation of abuse by priests, not the acts of abuse themselves. That is the real crime,” tweeted the founder of one victim support group. The SNAP Network issued a statement dismissing Francis’ remarks as “dreadfully duplicitous,” and demanding Francis takes actual steps to stop the abuse that is still happening. “If a husband keeps beating his wife, the tone, tenor or length of his words are irrelevant,” the group wrote.

Agencies