Slovakia bishops fighting LDS effort

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Roman Catholic bishops are fighting efforts by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church to earn official recognition as a religious group in Slovakia.

The church is urging Slovaks "who care about religious liberty" to sign a petition that would allow the denomination to be officially recognized. Slovak law requires 20,000 signatures for a church to be registered.

But the Catholic bishops are telling parishioners that signing the document would "betray" Catholicism. The bishops said in a statement that LDS doctrine "is not in line with the doctrine of the Catholic Church."

"We call on all Catholics ... not to sign this petition," the bishops said.

The LDS church said Monday that it was not seeking to convert Catholics.

"We respect the decision of every citizen, and the petition was in no way meant to convert anybody to our faith," church spokesman Petr Valnicek said. "Religious liberty is all we had in mind."

Slovakia, a central European country of 5.4 million, is predominantly Catholic.

There are only about 100 Mormons in Slovakia, and just under 2,000 in the neighboring Czech Republic.