Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday urged Slovakia to ratify a treaty that includes a "conscience clause" that would allow citizens to "refuse to act in [a] way that his or her conscience thinks is contrary" to Catholic tenets, AFP/EUBusiness reports. Critics say the clause would allow doctors to object to performing abortions, teachers to refuse to teach the theory of evolution and employees to refuse to work on Sunday, according to AFP/EUBusiness.

The issue prompted early elections in Slovakia last year after then Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda declined to support the clause. Dzurinda argued that the clause would grant special status to the country's Catholic majority. The European Commission's juridical consultative committee in January last year also criticized the clause. During a ceremony for Jozef Dravecky, the new Slovakian ambassador to the Holy See, the pope said he commends "the republic's reassurance that it is committed to finalizing the basic accord concerning conscientious objection" (AFP/EUBusiness, 9/13).