South Korea’s Catholic Church said Tuesday that North Korea rejected its invitation to a special mass led by Pope Francis next week, throwing cold water on the ceremony dedicated to peace and reconciliation between North and South Korea.

The North’s titular Catholic association declined to attend the Aug. 18 mass, linking the refusal to Pyongyang’s opposition to annual military drills the South and the U.S. are scheduled to begin on the same day, a South Korean church spokeswoman said.

The summer military exercises as well as other large-scale annual drills tend to bring strong rebukes from Pyongyang, which calls them rehearsals for a northward invasion. The North habitually demands their cancelation.

The South and the U.S. have said such exercises are routine and are for purely defensive purposes.