Russian church leader says calls to turn Hagia Sophia into mosque threaten Christianity

FILE PHOTO: Hagia Sophia or Ayasofya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, that was a Byzantine cathedral before being converted into a mosque which is currently a museum, is seen in Istanbul, Turkey, June 28, 2020. Picture taken June 28, 2020. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Patriarch Kirill, the leader of Russia's Orthodox Church, said on Monday that calls to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque posed a threat to Christianity.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has proposed restoring the mosque status of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, an ancient building at the heart of both the Christian Byzantine and Muslim Ottoman empires and now one of Turkey's most visited monuments.