“Nothing will happen, your Holiness,” I went on, “unless the Greeks begin it. In their tragic and hasty exodus from Thrace were they not reminded, in terror of what might be, of their own conduct in Asia Minor?” Yet the Pope’s face was very anxious. There was great pathos in his voice.
In what almost tragic situations a Pope thus often finds himself! The spiritual father of both sides; nevertheless neutral, or, if not neutral, criticised by both ... always expected to dispense generosity and mercy—and receiving none; no wonder the strain of the war killed both Benedict XV. and Pius X.
In Angora I told M. Kemal Pasha of the Pope’s great desire for peace. What was to be the Pasha’s beau geste towards Christianity. I suggested he might, as S. Sophia was a Christian Church, give it back to the Pope, as spiritual head of Christendom.
M. Kemal Pasha replied: “Had there been only one branch of the Christian Church, although S. Sophia has now become part of our Moslem traditions, it might have been possible. As the Christian Church is so much divided, it is impossible. We should only excite the Russians, the Greeks, and the Anglicans, to come and fight each other on our soil for S. Sophia; and the beau geste you suggest for peace would lead to eternal conflict and strife. Nevertheless, we are so anxious to do all in our power to honour Christianity in the eyes of the world that if, by our retaining S. Sophia as a mosque, we are really giving offence to the Catholic Church, we would either turn it into a museum, or close it forever. None must ever be able to say that we have intentionally injured the Christian Church.”
I complimented the Pasha on his fine sentiments toward the Christian religion.
“It is natural,” he replied. “I am only carrying on our traditional tolerance to all religions. The Roman Catholics and all Christians, as well as the Jews, have always had full religious freedom in our country.
As to the beau geste, what can I say? You are free to go anywhere you like in Anatolia; talk to the Greeks, talk to the Armenians. If there is any cause of complaint, we will see that it is removed at once. We want the Christians to be happy in our country. We have given them full religious liberty, and equal rights with Moslems: can we do more? I feel sure that, in spite of all the devastation and atrocities committed by the Greeks in our country, in a very short time they will be back amongst us: the great friends they were before the Powers interfered.”
Rauf Bey, the Prime Minister, echoed the sentiments of the Pasha. “Tell the Pope,” he said, “to rest assured we are doing all in our power to make his people happy and contented. Can there be a finer beau geste than this?”
As the Pasha had suggested, I went everywhere, saw and questioned everyone. The Greek prisoners were bitter in their criticism of England, who betrayed them and left them unaided to fight the Turkish army. Surely the least intelligent of our military attachés would have seen the cruelty of such a move.
Contrary to what most people suppose, there is a Christian colony left in Angora. It is mostly Armenian, though there are still many Greeks. The community nevertheless calls itself, and always gives as its legal nationality, “Catholic”; a delicate way of avoiding difficult questions.