“So it’s entirely reasonable for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to invite him and think he will be delighted to attend and serve as the Turkish president’s trophy of the surrender and submission of Christianity,” Spencer pointed out.

Pope Francis is now caught in a massive dilemma of his own making.Tweet  Spencer, author of the bestselling The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS, described the trap Francis had created for himself:

If Pope Francis does attend, however, he will insult and offend millions of Christians, Catholic and non-Catholic who wonder why he hasn’t stood up for Christianity the way he has for Islam and why he would attend a ceremony that commemorates what Erdoğan believes is the triumph of Islam over Christianity and its superiority to Christianity.

“If Francis doesn’t go, he risks offending his Muslim friends and supporters. If he does go, he risks offending Christians worldwide. There is no pleasing everyone,” Spencer observed.

Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, also noted that the pontiff’s “Human Fraternity declaration with the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar has not brought about harmony between the two religions, nor will it — and now he is caught between reality and the bland fictions he has propagated about Islam being peaceful.”

Meanwhile, Greece’s president is slamming “the decision of the Turkish leadership to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque” as “a profoundly provocative act against the international community.”

“It brutally insults historical memory, undermines the value of tolerance, and poisons Turkey’s relations with the entire civilized world,” she fumed. Spencer told Church Militant he was expecting Francis “to ignore the Greek president’s appeal.” “If the pope does answer, I’d expect he will say nothing about Hagia Sophia and instead enlarge upon how different faith traditions have to have mutual respect and engage in dialogue,” Spencer remarked.