Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako said that it is “sad and painful” to see the Hagia Sophia converted into a mosque, particularly because the decision shows no respect for “the feelings of 2 billion Christians in the world.” The Iraqi prelate said that the Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk made a “courageous” move a century ago by converting the building to a museum, which stood for years as “a symbol of Islamic-Christian coexistence.”