Bishop Walter Mixa had also been under pressure over allegations of financial irregularities at a children's school under his responsibility.

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"Her growth in the United States has been extraordinary, " said Andrew Chesnut, author of "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint" and the Bishop Walter F.

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"No other region is as important to the future of the church, or could use an intervention, as much as Latin America, " said Andrew Chesnut, who holds the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and has written several books on Christianity in Latin America.

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