Pope Benedict XVI summoned his bishops from across Latin America to Brazil’s most holy shrine Sunday, urging them to be zealous missionaries to maintain Catholicism as the dominant religious force in the region.“This is the faith that has made Latin America the ‘continent of hope,”’ Benedict told prelates from across the region and a crowd of nearly 150,000 attending an open-air Mass.
He was scheduled to address the bishops again when the conference opens later Sunday and set down his strategy to combat defections by millions of Catholics joining evangelical Protestant churches in recent years, as well as challenges to the church’s moral code by traditionally Catholic populations flouting its prohibitions on abortion, divorce and premarital sex.
In his homily at the Mass, hundreds of choir members sang hymns, and the German-born pope said the bishops must be “courageous and effective missionaries” to ensure the strength of the church.
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