Pope Benedict concludes a five-day visit to Brazil Sunday by opening a conference of Latin American and Caribbean Bishops in the shrine city of Aparecida.
Of great concern to the church leaders is the defection of large numbers of Catholics to evangelical Protestant religions.
Many of those expected in Aparecida are those who say they were beneficiaries of Frei Galvao, the 18th-century Brazilian friar the pope canonized on Friday.
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