SAN LUIS, Colo. (AP) - An investigation into whether three Mormon missionaries defaced a Catholic shrine has been dropped after Roman Catholic Bishop Arthur Tafoya urged forgiveness.

Costilla County Sheriff's Investigator Cpl. Scott Powell said Friday that the investigation had just gotten under way when Tafoya asked that charges not be pursued.

"I ask that we as Catholics, who believe in the forgiveness of Christ, will ourselves forgive, and pray for the young men who showed such a lack of tolerance and understanding," Bishop Arthur Tafoya wrote in his annual Easter letter. "I especially ask the members of the San Luis community to help the healing process by removing any anger that exists in their hearts. This is the time that we can show our love of Christ by forgiving and loving our neighbors."

The photos, taken in 2006, were posted on the Internet and showed the young men at the Shrine of the Mexican Martyrs at the Chapel of All Saints holding the broken head of a statue, preaching from the Book of Mormon at an altar and pretending to sacrifice one another.

The Mormon church officials earlier issued an apology.