Pope keeps pressure on Slovakia for treaty's 'conscience' clause

(VATICAN CITY) - Pope Benedict XVI urged Slovakia on Thursday to ratify a treaty that includes a "conscience clause" affecting many areas of public life.

While accepting the credentials of new Slovakian ambassador to the Holy See, Jozef Dravecky, the head of the Roman Catholic Church hailed "the republic's reassurance that it is committed to finalising the basic accord concerning conscientious objection."

Critics say the clause would allow doctors to refuse to carry out abortions, teachers to refuse to teach the theory of evolution and employees to refuse to work on Sunday.

The issue sparked early elections in Slovakia last year, after then prime minister Mikulas Dzurinda refused to back the clause, which allows any citizen "to refuse to act in way that his or her conscience thinks is contrary" to the tenets of Catholicism.

The European Commission's juridical consultative committee criticised the clause in January last year, while Dzurinda argued that it would accord special status to the country's majority Catholics.