Conversion to Orthodoxy meant adopting the Russian cultural identity. Subcarpathian Rusyn conversions to Orthodoxy triggered a reaction from the Hungarian government - which viewed Russian Orthodoxy as a dimension of Russian imperialism and a threat to the Magyarization of the Rusyns. The Austro-Hungarian government petitioned the Pope to establish the Greek Catholic Rite in North America. As Europe was being divided into two belligerent camps prior to World War I, the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian empires were engaged in covert attempts to win the allegiance of the people living in the contested area. This imperial competition followed the subject peoples to the United States where the competition was complicated by the opposing interests of the Latin bishops who had no interest in European conflicts but a great interest in establishing a uniform American Latin Catholicism.